New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday issued summons to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah for the alleged misappropriation of funds of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
Reportedly, Abdullah has been asked to join the investigation on May 31 at its Chandigarh office, the officials said. The ED questioned Abdullah in the same case earlier on two occasions in 2019 and 2020. Last time, the ED questioned the 84-year-old leader at its regional office at Raj Bagh in Jammu and Kashmir.
The ED had recorded Abdullah’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on both occasions.
He has been previously interrogated by a team of Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) in the alleged scam in January 2018. The investigation into the case is still underway.
The ED had filed the money laundering case after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR, which booked former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.
In 2015, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court handed over the investigation of the alleged Rs 113-crore scam in the J-K Cricket Association to the CBI while indicting the state police for failing to carry out the probe in which former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has been named.
While referring to Abdullah’s name in the scam and citing reasons for handing over the probe to the CBI, the court had said that the president of the JKCA is a “tall political personality” having served as the CM of the state and served as the Union minister in the previous government.
His complicity is alleged in granting approval to two contradictory resolutions pertaining to the operation of bogus accounts of the JKCA to keep accused Ahsan Mirza in control of financial matters despite his ceasing to be a treasurer after the 2011 elections.
The CBI has interrogated many others in connection with the case.
(With ANI inputs)