CBI chargesheets Farooq Abdullah in Rs 113 Cr J&K cricket body scam

Srinagar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday filed a charge-sheet against former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and three others in the alleged multi-crore scam in Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court in Srinagar.

At the time of filing of the charge-sheet, some of the accused were present in the court, except Abdullah, who is in London for the past few weeks. The CBI had sent summons to all the accused to remain present in the court.

According to the CBI charge-sheet, huge amounts of money were transferred from the bank accounts of the JKCA into those of its office bearers and other unconnected individuals.

Abdullah and others have been charged under relevant sections of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) including Sections 406, 168 and 120-B related to fraud, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust.

The J&K High Court, in September 2015, had ordered a probe by the CBI into the over 100 crore scam in the JKCA after observing 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.

The JKCA had been under the scanner for misappropriation of Rs 113.66 crore (including bank interest) received from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) between April 2002 and December 2011. It was alleged that instead of utilizing funds on development of infrastructure, these were swindled by some of its members including former treasurer Ahsan Mirza to live a lavish lifestyle.

As a consequence, the BCCI stopped funding the JKCA, badly affecting its activities. The scam surfaced in March 2012 after the association treasurer Manzoor Wazir filed a police complaint against former office-bearers, Muhammad Saleem Khan (former general secretary) and Mirza. Abdullah, the then JKCA president, along with several others, was also accused in the scam. He had not denied that there has been a scam in the association but had insisted on him not being involved.

Abdullah, who was removed as president of JKCA on July 20, 2015 and replaced by Imran Raza Ansari, then Sports Minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government, 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”.

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 the 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 court, not satisfied by the pace of investigations, handed it over to the CBI.

The court had directed the CBI to complete the probe into the scam within six months but the agency later sought further time for it, citing the law and order situations in the Valley as a reason for the delay.

During investigations, the CBI claimed to have collected nearly 400 documents from different sources and related organizations and banks, and also examined dozens of persons including Abdullah who had recorded his statement before the premier probing agency in January this year.

The charge-sheet says that during the investigations, the CBI found that Rs 112 crore and Rs 33 lakhs were transferred to JKCA from BCCI between April 2002 to December 2011. However, huge amounts were transferred from the accounts of JKCA to the accounts of different earlier office bearers of JKCA and other individuals who were having no connections with the JKCA during the relevant period.