Farooq Abdullah appears before ED in JKCA money laundering case again

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday, second time this week, for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged multi-crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). The 83-year-old former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir was questioned for over six hours on October 19 in the case. After the questioning on Monday, Abdullah had said he was not worried and would cooperate in the probe.

The last round of questioning took place four days after Jammu and Kashmir's mainstream political parties, including the NC and the PDP, met at Abdullah's residence and formed the People's Alliance for 'Gupkar Declaration'. ED officials said Abdullah's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as in the past. He was questioned for the first time in July last year in Chandigarh. The ED is understood to be questioning Abdullah about his role and decisions taken when the alleged fraud took place in the association when he was the JKCA president.

The agency's case is based on an FIR filed by the CBI, which booked former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza. The CBI had also filed a charge sheet in 2018 against Abdullah, Khan, Mirza as well as former JKCA treasurer Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh for the "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.