CBI records Farooq’s statement in JKCA embezzlement case

SRINAGAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation has recorded the statement of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah in connection with its probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
Sources said that CBI recorded statement Abdullah in JKCA misappropriation of case. The India’s premier agency has refused to share any details about the examination of Abdullah but sources said his statement was recorded recently. Abdullah is not named as a suspect in the FIR registered by the agency, they said.
The case pertains to an alleged embezzlement of over Rs 113 crore of funds at the state’s cricket association, which was headed by Abdullah at the time. The scam surfaced in 2011.
Abdullah, who was then president of the state cricketing body constituted an in-house committee in 2012. The in-house probe report had indicted two former top officials of the JKCA for their alleged role in the scam.
Both were expelled from the association after police lodged an FIR against them on March 10, 2012, at Ram Munshi Bagh police station under section 120 B, 406 and 409 of Ranbir Penal Code.
The bench comprising the then Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Bansi Lal Bhat had pronounced the order on September 3, 2015 on a PIL filed by two cricketers — Majid Yaqoob Dar and Nissar Ahmad Khan — into the alleged scam.
On September 3, 2015, the High Court handed over the multi-crores cam in JKCA to CBI for a thorough probe. The CBI was handed over the investigation after the Court pulled up J&K police for carrying out the investigation in a casual manner. The Court had granted multiple extensions to India’s premier investigating agency to complete the probe.
The CBI in 2016 had stated that Rs 1,12,33,04,618 had been paid by the BCCI to JKCA from April 2002 to December 31, 2011.
The JKCA is struggling to meet its financial expenses for running cricketing activities as the BCCI has withhold funds since 2011 after a multi-crore scam surfaced in the state cricketing body.
“Most of the cricketing activities have been halted due to lack of funds,” an official of the JKCA said.
“For the past many years, the BCCI has been telling the JKCA that its funds will only be released once the probe is completed by the CBI,” the official said.