Court to frame charges against Former CM Farooq Abdullah, others in JKCA scam

Court to frame charges against Former CM Farooq Abdullah, others in JKCA scam

SRINAGAR: The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Srinagar today said the case against the National Conference patron and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah and five others in Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) multi-crore scam under various offences has been made out as such the charges are to be framed against them.

The court of CJM presided over by Tabassum in an order said that the essential ingredients of offences under section 120-B (Criminal conspiracy), 406 (Criminal breach of trust) and 409 (Criminal breach of trust by public servant) of RPC have prima facie been made out against former JKCA president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and other accused the then JKCA General Secretary, Mohammad Saleem Khan, the then treasurer of JKCA, Ahsan Mirza, Manzoor Gazanfar Ali, Gulzar Ahmad Beigh and former J&K Bank executive, Bashir Ahmad Misgar.

The court further added that there is nothing on record to suggest that the ED had informed the CBI regarding the alleged commission of offences under RPC for dishonestly receiving stolen property and dishonestly or fraudulent removal or concealment of property against all the accused.

The court while dismissing a plea of Enforcement Department seeking additional charges under Section 411 and 424 against all the accused said a case has been made out for earlier offences against them.

The court noted that the investigation and prosecution in the present case are being conducted by the CBI and ED is neither investigating nor the prosecuting agency in the matter.

The court further held that the authorities under PMLA cannot proceed on the mere assumption that a scheduled offence has been committed.

“That the predicate offence is like a ship and the ED’s powers under PMLA akin to a limpet mine without the ship, the limpet cannot function. Accordingly, the application filed by the ED is dismissed”, read the order.

Meantime on the question of charge and discharge, the court said the ingredients of Section 120-B, 406 and 409 under RPC are prima facie attracted against accused-Misger and Abdullah.

The court as such recorded that the accused persons be charged for the said offences with the clarification that the addition of charges can be done suo motu at any stage before pronouncement of material witnesses.

The court posted the matter for framing of charges next week. “After framing of charges, the statement of approvers-Gazanfar Ali and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh shall be recorded as evidence and appropriate orders shall follow if they resile from their earlier stand”, the court said.