Worries ahead for former Chief Minister and president of the National Conference Dr. Farooq Abdullah as the court has decided to hear charges in the infamous Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) scam on July 6.
Dr. Abdullah was president of the JKCA when this scam worth multiple crores took place. He was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED several times earlier in the same case.
As per reports, the trial court started an effective hearing in the multi-crore scam on framing of charges against the accused persons involved in the case and kept the matter for further hearing.
The court of Principal District and Sessions Judge presided by Jawad Ahmad heard the case as the Investigation Officer (IO) of CBI was present in the court as he was previously directed and on asking by the court with regard to the investigation, the said IO informed the court about the involvement of former General Secretary, Treasurer and Branch Manager the Bank for the misappropriation of funds provided by the BCCI to the JKCA.
The involvement of three other accused has remained unexplained as the court time was over and the IO submitted to the court that apart from Farooq Abdullah other two accused have become approvers in the case and they are now prosecution witnesses and so as the involvement of misappropriation of funds by Farooq Abdullah, the court asked the IO to explain his part on next date i.e July 6.
The court is hearing the case as to whether the charges are held against the accused persons and order they be discharged from the accusations of challan.
Accused allegedly transferred funds allocated by BCCI to their personal accounts
The IO informed the court that the BCCI has transferred the amount to three accounts of JKCA in AIR Cargo, Zoonimar, and Khanyar branches of the bank, and the accused have managed to transfer the amount which is in crores to their personal accounts.
The Court has been informed that when the misappropriation of funds surfaced as the audit was carried out and subsequently a committee was constituted in this regard and the accused agreed with the shortfall.
The Court has further been apprised that apart from the swindled amount there were 34 FDRs of Rs 1 crore each with the JKCA which later have been recovered and utilized for the welfare of the Association. When asked to IO as to how the allegation leveled are established, the IO submitted before the court that the treasurer of the JKCA was not elected but was given back door entry by the accused-Abdullah till 2003 and it is in 2003 he was elected as treasurer of JKCA.
The infamous scam was exposed in 2012
Notably, the scam was exposed in the year 2012 when Muhammad Aslam Goni, the then JKCA managing committee chairman, lodged an FIR with the police on March 10, 2012, against Ahsan Mirza and Mohammad Saleem Khan - the then JKCA general secretary and chief administrative officer respectively - accusing the duo of pushing the funds into bogus bank accounts created in the name of the association.
From 2006 to 2012, the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) had given a whopping amount of Rs 113 crore to the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association as a grant for the promotion of cricket in J&K.
Of this, Rs. 43.69 crores was allegedly siphoned off and misappropriated by some office-bearers of the Association.
It was alleged that during this period, the then president of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association Dr. Farooq Abdullah connived with the treasurer of JKCA and others to siphon off the funds.
Mir Manzoor Gazanfar, who resigned as the treasurer of JKCA in 2008, had claimed that Dr. Abdullah visited his hotel in Srinagar and made him sign blank cheques.
- In 2015, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court handed over the investigation of the alleged scam to the CBI while indicting the state police for failing to carry out the probe in which Dr. Farooq Abdullah was named.
- The CBI had in 2018 filed a chargesheet against four, including Farooq Abdullah, who was the president of the state cricket board over alleged misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore by the accused office bearers.
- On October 21, 2020, Dr. Farooq Abdullah appeared before the Enforcement Directorate's regional office in Rajbagh in Srinagar's Civil Lines.
- The Enforcement Directorate attached properties worth Rs 11.86 crore linked to Dr. Farooq Abdullah in connection with the scam on December 19, 2020.
- The attached assets included property at Gupkar Road, Srinagar, a property at Tehsil Katipora, Tanmarg, a property at Bhatindi in Jammu, and one commercial property at the Residency Road area of Srinagar.
- On May 31, 2022, ED again grilled Dr. Farooq Abdullah in the same scam for over three hours.
