Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, July 16: The CBI today filed a charge sheet against former Chief Minister and president of National Conference, Dr Farooq Abdullah and three others in a local court here in Srinagar in multi-crore Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) scam.
The agency has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Ranbir Penal Code against the then president of JKCA Dr Farooq Abdullah, the then general secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan, then treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and an Executive in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Branch Khanyar, Bashir Ahmad Misgar.
The charge sheet was filed in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar Aijaz Ahmad Khan by the CBI officals. The accused , Salim Khan, Ihsan Mirza and Bashir Ahmad Misgar were present in the court but Dr Abdullah was absent.
A CBI official when asked about the absence of Dr Abdullah in the court told the CJM that a notice was issued to him but his PA replied that he is out of country. However, there was no counsel representing Abdullah in the court.
Senior Advocate Bashir Ahmad Bashir, one of the Counsels for Salim Khan and Ihsan Mirza, grilled the CBI officials for exempting Dr Abdullah from personal appearance. He asked them is the law for VIPs only? “If Supreme Court exempts accused from personal appearance why are you selective. My clients should have also been exempted if you exempted a VIP”, he asked.
Advocate Bashir also raised questions against CBI over their notice to accused in which they were asked to be present in the court to reply to the charges leveled against them. “Where are the charges which need the reply”, he asked the CBI officials before the CJM.
The Court accepted the chargesheet on the condition but asked the prosecution to scrutinize it in order to see whether it is complete in all respects or not. If it is complete and all the relevant documents are attached to it then it will be accepted by the CJM otherwise he will return it to them.
There are 752 documents attached with the charge sheet and staff of the CJM is verifying and scrutinizing these documents before the trial in the case will be started. The case has been listed tomorrow but sources said that the verification of the documents may take some time.
The BCCI gave Rs 112 crore to the JKCA between 2002 and 2011 for the development of cricket facilities in the State. Of this, Rs 43.69 crore was siphoned off and misappropriated allegedly by the accused.
In the meantime, an NC spokesman said here in a statement that Dr Farooq Abdullah has full faith in the judicial system and re-asserts his commitment to cooperate with the Court’s proceedings in the matter. “Pertinently, it is important to yet again highlight, it was Dr Farooq Abdullah who sought the registration of an FIR into this matter in the first place. Dr Farooq Abdullah has led his life guided by the strictest principles of selfless public service and probity. He is certain that truth shall prevail. The rank and file of the party draws inspiration from Dr Farooq Abdullah’s resolve to fight earnestly for the truth to be upheld and continues to fully support him in this endeavour”, the statement said.
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