Farooq Abdullah grilled for five hours in cricket fund scam

Chandigarh, July 31: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah for over five hours in the Rs 113 crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, which he had once headed.

The National Conference chief appeared before the ED here at 12.30 p.m. and the questioning continued till 5.30 p.m., officials told IANS.

Abdullah reached the ED's office here along with his lawyers, but they were not allowed to accompany him inside.

He was earlier interrogated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over misappropriation of funds and in 2018, it filed a charge sheet against him. Later, the ED also started a money laundering probe against the former J&K Chief Minister.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had, in 2015, handed over the investigation in the scam to the CBI, while indicting the state police for failing to carry out the probe appropriately.

The scam relates to the grants the JKCA had received, between 2001 to 2011, from the Board of Control for Cricket in India for promoting cricket in the state.

Besides Abdullah, three others named in the first information report are JKCA General Secretary Saleem Khan and Treasurer Mohammad Ahsan Mirza and Jammu and Kashmir Bank executive Bashir Ahmed Mansir.

They were booked for criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.