Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday quashed chargesheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and others in connection with its money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
A single bench order passed by Justice Sanjeev Kumar said no predicate offence was made against the individuals and hence the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED are quashed. The ED had named National Conference chief Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza (former treasurer of JKCA), Mir Manzoor Gazanffer (another ex-treasurer of the JKCA) and some others as accused in the chargesheet.
Those listed in the chargesheet had moved the high court seeking its quashing.
Shariq J Reyaz, representing Mirza and Gazanffer, had moved the high court saying that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case and the chargesheets filed against his clients should be quashed.
The court, after hearing arguments, had reserved the judgement on August 7. The ED was represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju through virtual mode.
Reyaz said the court accepted “our plea that no predicate offence was made out” and that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case. Mirza was arrested by the ED in September, 2019 and a chargesheet was filed against him in November that year and the trial in that complaint is going on.
The federal probe agency had attached assets belonging to Abdullah and others worth Rs 21.55 crore under three separate orders issued by it in the past. The agency’s case is based on a 2018 chargesheet filed by the CBI against the same accused.
The CBI chargesheet filed against Abdullah, Mirza, Gazanffer and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh alleged “misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore” from grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to promote the sport in the erstwhile state between 2002 and 2011.