CBI charges Farooq Abdullah in Rs 113 cr J&K cricket association scam

The CBI filed a chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and three others in a case of alleged embezzlement of Rs 113 crore from J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) funds.

The agency said that the National Conference leader was JKCA's president when the alleged irregularities were detected between 2001 and 2011. Others named are then JKCA general secretary Saleem Khan, treasurer Mohammad Ahsan Mirza and J&K Bank executive Bashir Ahmed Mansir.

The case was earlier probed by the police that filed an FIR at Ram Munshi Bagh police station in 2012. Then CM Omar Abdullah, son of Farooq Abdullah, allegedly attempted to botch up the investigation and went slow on granting permission for custodial interrogation of the accused.

DNA broke the story under the title 'J&K govt smothers Farooq's Rs 113 cr scam' on November 11, 2014 and exposed his and his associates'roles.

The High Court took cognizance of a PIL filed based on the report leading to directions to the CBI to register a case that was filed in 2015.

It is alleged that Farooq, along with nine JKCA office-bearers, are offenders under Sections 406, 168 and 120-B of the RPC for making the sports body a lending agency and for operating many bogus accounts.

The chargesheet narrates a tale of pilfering public money to make up the lavish lifestyles of the members of the association, while cricketers and coaches recount tales of sufferings for want of money and sports infrastructure.

Bank details since Farooq became president on October 14, 2001, suggest that JKCA opened 18 bogus accounts, which don't find mention in the records and annual statements.

Hotelier Manzoor Gaznafar and Mirza, both former treasurers, and two other office-bearers, were given loans worth Rs 4.05 crore, with acknowledgements off the records.

Gaznafar told investigators that he had invested the money he got from JKCA in a business in Rajasthan in partnership with ex-treasurer Ahsam Ahmad Mirza, a close confidante of Abdullah.