Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah to be questioned by ED over involvement in state cricket scam

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah is to be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over his involvement in the Jammu and Kashmir cricket scam of 2002.

An investigation is underway by the CBI to look into the matter.

In 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed charge sheets against then president of the association Abdullah and 3 others — Mohammad Saleem Khan, treasurer Ahsan Ahmed Mirza and an executive of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Bashir Ahmed Misgar — for creating bogus bank accounts and allegedly misappropriating over Rs 43 crore from grants given by the BCCI to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) for promoting cricket in the state.

CBI had said that the officebearers of the association are clearly responsible for the money laundering.

The irregularities were noticed in the state between 2001 and 2011.

Abdullah and others were charged with sections related to criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).

In September 2015, the high court ordered the CBI to probe the scam, alleging that members of the JKCA had pocketed funds that they received from the BCCI for the development of the association.

Abdullah in his response to the high court had refuted the allegations claiming that his name was being dragged to tarnish his political image.