Kamal Ghorui
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah
NEW DELHI: A local court in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant against former chief minister Farooq Abdullah in connection with the alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.The warrant was issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar Tabassum after Abdullah failed to appear before the court either in person or through virtual mode, news agency PTI reported. The court also rejected his application seeking exemption from personal appearance.
The magistrate similarly dismissed an exemption plea filed by another accused in the case, Manzoor Gazanfar Ali, and issued a non-bailable warrant against him as well.“In case any of the accused fails to appear before the court, appropriate orders shall follow,” the court said, listing the matter for the next hearing on March 30.The development comes days after the court earlier in the month dismissed an application by the Enforcement Directorate seeking to add charges against Abdullah and others in the JKCA scam case. The court ruled that the ED could not be made a party to a case that had already been investigated and chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.However, the court observed that there was prima facie evidence against the accused, including Abdullah, and said the essential ingredients of offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 409 of the Ranbir Penal Code were made out. The court had then scheduled the hearinf for the framing of charges.The case relates to alleged misappropriation of funds within the JKCA. In 2018, the CBI filed a chargesheet accusing Abdullah and several others of siphoning off around Rs 43 crore from grants provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the association.According to the CBI, the funds were allegedly diverted between 2002 and 2011, when Abdullah was serving as president of the JKCA.The chargesheet also named former JKCA general secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan, former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, and Jammu and Kashmir Bank executive Bashir Ahmad Misgar as accused in the case.
