The CBI has registered a regular case into the alleged misappropriation of funds in Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association.
The agency has taken over the case from State police following directions from the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to probe the alleged financial bungling to the tune of over `113 crore.
The agency has registered the case under Sections 120-B, 406 and 409 of Ranvir Penal Code against the then General Secretary and then Treasurer of JKCA. CBI took over the investigation of the FIR No.27/2012 registered at Police Station Ram Munshi Bagh, Srinagar on the allegations that the accused had committed criminal breach of trust by misappropriation of JKCA funds and operated bogus accounts in different branches of Jammu & Kashmir Bank under their joint signatures.
The division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had pronounced the order on September 3 on a PIl filed by two cricketers — Majid Yaqoob Dar and Nissar Ahmad Khan — into the alleged scam in JKCA that had surfaced in 2012. The bench had on August 25 reserved its order on whether to hand over to the Crime Branch or any other agency the investigation into the alleged embezzlement of funds in the cricket association, which was headed by former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at the time. Abdullah is not named as an accused in the FIR registered by the agency, agency sources said.
The JKCA had in July sought to end Abdullah’s 35-year rule as the president of the association by electing PDP leader and Sports Minister Imran Reza Ansari as its new chief. The Abdullah-led faction has challenged Reza’s election as JKCA chief in court.