J&K Cricket Scam: High Court Quashes Chargesheet Against Farooq Abdullah, Others

Srinagar: In a big relief for former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Wednesday quashed the chargesheets against him and others filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case linked to the probe in the alleged Rs 113-crore J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) scam.

Justice Sanjeev Kumar in his order said no predicate offence was made against the individuals and hence the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED are quashed.

The ED had, in a statement on December 19, 2020, said the total funding received by the JKCA from BCCI between 2005 and 2011 was Rs 109.78. It had alleged that Mr Abdullah, as president of the JKCA, “misused his position and clout by illegal appointments of office bearers at JKCA to whom he gave financial powers for the purpose of laundering of the JKCA funds”. It further stated that the investigation clearly brought out that Mr. Abdullah was instrumental as well as beneficiary of the laundered funds of the JKCA.

According to the ED, it surfaced during the investigations that JKCA funds to the tune of more than Rs 45 crores were siphoned, which includes heavy cash withdrawals of around Rs 25 crores, with no corresponding justification. The ED had attached the assets worth Rs 21.55 crore of Mr. Abdullah and others under three separate orders issued by it in the past. They were formally charge-sheeted by the ED in 2022.

The chargesheet named Mr. Abdullah, former treasurer of JKCA Ahsan Mirza, his predecessor Manzoor Gazanfar and some others as the main accused. However, those listed in the chargesheet moved the High Court seeking its quashing on the plea that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case. The ED has arrested Mr. Mirza in September 2019 and a charge sheet was filed against him in November that year and the trial in the complaint is going on.

Mr. Abdullah who is the president of opposition National Conference (NC) has appeared before the ED a few times during its investigation in the case. After his last appearance, he had said that the agency’s “harassment” will continue till elections are held in J&K.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in July 2018 filed a charge sheet against Mr. Abdullah and three others in the same case. The charge-sheet had said that huge amounts of money were transferred from the bank accounts of the JKCA into those of its office bearers and other unconnected individuals. Mr. Abdullah and others were charged under relevant sections of J&K’s own (now defunct) Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) including Sections 406, 168 and 120-B related to fraud, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust. Subsequently, the ED also filed an FIR in the case.

Earlier, the case was being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the J&K police. The accused had been charged under Sections 406, 168 and 120-B of RPC for allegedly making the sports body a lending agency and for operating many bogus accounts. The case had been left hanging for years till the J&K High Court, not satisfied by the pace of investigations, handed it over to the CBI in September 2015. The court had observed that the investigations by the J&K police lacked both speed and credibility and that lack of will to dig out those involved in it was writ large on the face of its performance.

Mr. Abdullah who was on July 20, 2015, removed as president of JKCA and replaced by Imran Raza Ansari, then Sports Minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, has repeatedly denied his involvement in the alleged scam. He had in an over 30-page response submitted to the High Court said that his name was being dragged in the PIL just to “defame and tarnish his political image”.