Court gives Farooq Abdullah two weeks’ time to respond

Srinagar, May 19

 Jammu and Kashmir High Court gave former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah granted two weeks’ time to respond to a PIL in what is believed to be a multi-crore scam in the state's cricket association on Tuesday.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice DS Thakur had issued notice to Abdullah in his capacity as president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) last week to a PIL that accused the office-bearers of swindling Rs 40 crore from the association.

The PIL was filed by former state Ranji team player Majid Yaqoob Dar and club cricketer Nisar Ahmad Khan.

The case will now be heard in the first week of June.

The J&K police, who are probing the case, submitted its status report to court after the bench ordered it to do so last week.

In March 2012, police booked two former JKCA officials —Ehsan Mirza (then treasurer) and Mohammad Saleem Khan (then General Secretary) — after the BCCI claimed levelled allegations of misappropriation of funds at the association. The case was registered after JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni approached the police.

Abdullah had termed the allegation of his involvement in the case as "unfortunate. — PTI