Srinagar: Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of J&K Cricket Association multi-crore scam case up to September 25, as the counsel of one of the accused in the case, Bashir Ahmad Misgar pleaded disability to advance arguments on charge and said that they were not supplied with the relevant documents besides copies of charge-sheet pertaining to the case filed by CBI on 16 July.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar after hearing all the counsels decided to post the matter for arguments on charge on September 25 so that all the accused are heard on the same day and ensure that all accused have been provided the copy of the charge sheet along with documents.
All the accused except Dr Farooq Abdullah, who has been exempted from personal appearance till further orders by the court, besides CBI Officials and CBI Public Prosecutor were present in the court.
The charges against the accused persons have been framed for the offences committed under Sections 120B, 406 & 409 of the Ranbir Penal Code for allegedly making the sports body a lending agency and for operating many bogus accounts. CBI has levelled charges of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust against the four accused in the JKCA multi-crore scam.
Earlier CBI had sent a summon to all the accused to remain present in the court. The scam involves the payment of Rs 113.67 crore by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the state cricket body from 2002 to 2011 and subsequent misappropriation of funds of over Rs 40 crore with the name of former J&K Chief Minister and NC patron Farooq Abdullah, who served as the JKCA president during this period. The CBI has alleged that more than Rs 43 crore was ‘siphoned off and misappropriated” by the accused.
On 9 March 2017, the high court had handed over the probe to CBI, observing that police investigation lacked both speed and credibility and that lack of will to dig out the scamsters was writ large on the face of its performance.
The case was registered based on a complaint lodged by then JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni and alleged that bogus accounts on JKCA funds were being operated in the various J&K Bank branches by the ex-General Secretary and the then Treasurer under their joint signatures. Goni had also alleged misappropriation of funds in JKCA.
On March 10, 2012, a case under FIR 27/2012 was registered by the Police on the complaint filed by the then chairman JKCA, Muhammad Aslam Goni.
The next date of hearing is listed on September 25.
