JKCA case: HC quashes ED charge sheets against Farooq Abdullah, others

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday quashed charge sheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah and others in connection with its money-laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).

A single bench order passed by justice Sanjeev Kumar said no predicate offence was made against the individuals and hence the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED are quashed.

The ED had named NC chief Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza (former treasurer of JKCA), Mir Manzoor Gazanffer (another ex-treasurer of the JKCA) and some others as accused in the charge sheet. Those listed in the charge sheet had moved the high court seeking its quashing.

Shariq J. Reyaz, representing Mirza and Gazanffer, had moved the high court saying the ED had no jurisdiction over the case and the charge sheets filed against his clients should be quashed.

The court, after hearing arguments, had reserved the judgement on 7 August. The ED was represented by additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju in virtual mode.

Reyaz said the court accepted "our plea that no predicate offence was made out" and that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case. Mirza was arrested by the ED in September 2019 and a charge sheet was filed against him in November that year, with the trial in that complaint ongoing.

Abdullah has been questioned multiple times by the agency in the case. The federal probe agency had attached assets belonging to Abdullah and others worth Rs 21.55 crore under three separate orders issued by it in the past. The agency's case is based on a 2018 charge sheet filed by the CBI against the same accused.

The CBI charge sheet filed against Abdullah, Mirza, Gazanffer and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh alleged "misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore" from grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to promote the sport in the erstwhile state between 2002 and 2011.

The ED had earlier said its probe found that JKCA received Rs 94.06 crore from the BCCI in three different bank accounts during financial years 2005-06 to 2011-12 (up to December 2011).

It had alleged that several other bank accounts were opened in the name of the JKCA into which the funds were transferred. The bank accounts along with the existing bank accounts were later used for laundering JKCA funds.