JKCA scam: Trial court gives anticipatory bail to 2 accused

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 17

A day after the CBI charged former Chief Minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and three others with embezzlement and misappropriation of funds given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the J&K Cricket Association (JKCA), the trial court on Tuesday confirmed the anticipatory bail to two accused. These are Ehsan Mirza (then JKCA general secretary) and Saleem Khan (then treasurer).

On Monday, the CBI had filed an 8,000-page chargesheet before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, against Farooq, Mirza, Saleem and Bashir Misger (then J&K Bank Khanyar branch manager).

On Tuesday, it filed a list of “supporting documents of the chargesheet” before the court, which is still verifying the record before committing the chargesheet to a formal trial.

“The trial court on Tuesday confirmed the anticipatory bail of Ehsan Mirza and Saleem Khan,” said senior lawyer Bashir Ahmad Bashir, who represented the two accused.

Asked if he has been provided a copy of the chargesheet, Bashir said the court was busy verifying the record and other material submitted by the CBI.

The scam pertains to payment of Rs 113.67 crore by the BCCI to the state cricket body from 2002 to 2011. A part of money, Rs 43.69 crore meant for Farooq-headed JKCA was allegedly misappropriated. Farooq was ousted as the JKCA president in February 2015 and replaced by then Sports Minister Imran Ansari.

Before filing the chargesheet, the CBI had issued summons to Farooq and the other accused, asking them to answer the charges before the court on Monday. Though the other accused appeared before the CJM on Monday, Farooq was not present as he is out of country.

Farooq and the other accused have been charged under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), read with 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the Ranbir Penal Code. The chargesheet alleges that he granted approval to two contradictory resolutions pertaining to operation of bogus accounts of the JKCA to keep Mirza in control of financial matters despite his ceasing to be a treasurer after the 2011 elections.

The CBI, which was handed over the investigation by the High Court in September 2015, had also recorded the statement of the accused and the complainant, former JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam.

The investigation by the CBI has found that it was on the basis of an authorisation letter from Farooq that an account was opened in the Khanyar branch of the J&K Bank and the money parked there was not “reflected in the balance sheet of the JKCA.”