NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday has registered an FIR into the multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). The agency has taken over the case after Jammu and Kashmir High Court earlier this month ordered a CBI probe into the scam and set a deadline of six months.
The agency, however, has not named former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in the FIR. “Abdullah is not named as suspect in the FIR registered,” a CBI official said. The scam had surfaced in 2012 when Abdullah was president of the cricket association.
The CBI has registered a case against the then General Secretary Saleem Khan and then Treasurer Mohammad Ahsan Mirza of JKCA. “The agency took over the investigation of the case registered at Police Station Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar on the allegations that the accused had committed criminal breach of trust by misappropriation of JKCA funds and operated bogus accounts in different branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank under their joint signatures,” said CBI official.
The probe follows a PIL filed by cricketers Majid Yaqoob Dar and Nissar Ahmad Khan in 2012. The scam surfaced in March 2012 after JKCA treasurer Manzoor Wazir filed a police complaint against former office-bearers Saleem Khan and Ahsan Mirza for embezzling Rs 1.90 crore. Subsequent charges claimed the amount to be over Rs 113 crore.
The alleged scam was being investigated by a special team of police, which had failed to conclude its probe after nearly three years.
Abdullah and eight others were charged under three sections for “making the sports body a lending agency and operating false accounts”.
The J&K High Court had said Abdullah’s complicity was alleged in granting approval to two contradictory resolutions pertaining to operations of accounts to keep accused Ahsan Mirza in control of financial matters despite his ceasing to be a treasurer after elections in 2011.
N Srinivasan was BCCI president at that time.