A few days before the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the central investigation agency ED has approached the court against former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. ED has approached the court with two new charges against Farooq, including money laundering. ED has urged the court to take cognizance of the new charges. If the court accepts the petition, an FIR can be registered against Farooq. Let us tell you that last month the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had rejected the ED’s charges.
Official sources say the ED has filed a petition in the court of the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Srinagar, seeking addition of sections 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 424 (dishonestly or fraudulently removing or concealing property) of the Indian Penal Code in the case related to alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
The ED has taken this step at a time when the Jammu and Kashmir High Court dismissed the case and chargesheet against Farooq Abdullah and some others on August 14. If the court accepts the plea of the central agency and finds that a premeditated crime has been committed under the PMLA, then it can ask for a new FIR to be registered.
The High Court has dismissed the JKCA case
Earlier on August 14, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had quashed the chargesheets filed by the ED against former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and others in connection with the money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). The single bench order passed by Justice Sanjeev Kumar said that no predicate offence is made out against these persons, hence the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED are quashed.
The ED had named National Conference chief Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza (former JKCA treasurer), Mir Manzoor Gazanfar (another former JKCA treasurer) and some others as accused in the chargesheet. Those listed in the chargesheet had moved the high court seeking quashing of the chargesheet.
