Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) against former J&K Chief Minister and J&K Cricket Association (JKCA) President, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and others, including Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanfer, in connection with its probe into the JKCA money laundering case.
The charge sheet was filed on June 4, but a special court in Srinagar took its cognizance on Tuesday. The court has issued notices to the accused for appearance before it on August 27.
“The case relates to the siphoning off of JKCA funds by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of office-bearers of JKCA and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from JKCA bank accounts…the quantum of proceeds of crime identified by the ED in this case so far is Rs 51.90 crore out of which assets worth Rs 21.55 crore have been attached by the ED,” the agency said in a statement issued.
The ED had arrested the then JKCA treasurer Mirza on September 5, 2019, and filed a prosecution complaint against him on November 1, 2019. Mirza is currently on trial.
In March this year, the agency had provisionally attached assets totalling Rs 7.25 crore belonging to an accused in the case. The agency had also attached assets of Abdullah as well in the case.
The case involves the alleged embezzlement off of the grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the JKCA.
It was alleged that between 2002 and 2011, funds to the tune of over Rs 43 crore (ED now claims it is over Rs 50 crore) were siphoned off from the JKCA coffers. These funds were part of the Rs 112-crore grant given by the BCCI to the JKCA.
In 2020, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 14.32 crore belonging to Mirza, Gazanfer and Farooq.
As part of that, Farooq Abdullah’s Gupkar Road bungalow too was attached, apart from his properties in Jammu. The agency had also filed a prosecution complaint against Mirza.