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Ishfaq Tantry
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, September 3
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the multi-crore cricket scam allegedly involving some office-bearers of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), including former chief minister Farooq Abdullah.
Earlier, the case was being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the J-K Police, however, the high court was not satisfied by its pace of investigation.
A division Bench of Chief Justice NN Paul Vasanthakumar, which was hearing a PIL by two cricketers seeking investigation into the FIR registered with regard to the scam, directed the CBI to complete it within six months.
The Bench had last week reserved its decision of shifting the investigation of the case from SIT to any another agency after hearing all sides, including the two prime accused and ex-chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who is one of the respondents in the PIL.
Two prime accused in the case, Mohd Saleem Khan, ex-general secretary of the JKCA, and Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, who are on pre-arrest bail, during the last hearing by the High Court had also pitched for “time-bound probe”, adding that they had no objection if the investigation was handed over to some other agency by the court.
Dr Farooq Abdullah, who was ousted as the JKCA president last month and replaced by Sports Minister Imran Ansari, in his response to the court had denied the allegations in the PIL as “reckless and baseless” and too had demanded a “time-bound probe” by the SIT.
The former chief minister in an over 30-page response submitted to the high court had said that his name was being dragged in the petition just to “defame and tarnish his political image”.
The SIT in one of its reports had revealed bogus accounts in the JKCA.
It had also revealed that the JKCA had loaned Rs 1.9 crore to the key accused during a period when Farooq was at the helm of JKCA during 2008-09, with documents bearing president’s signatures.
However, Farooq in his response had revealed that due to legal disputes between certain clubs and civil litigations, as an “interim” decision it was decided “not to operate the account of the association by the secretary, treasurer and chairman or any other member".
The JKCA scam hit headlines in March 2012 after reports surfaced that said crores of rupees intended for promotion of the sport in the state was diverted to different accounts by JKCA office-bearers with mala fide intention
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