JKCA case: High court quashes ED charge sheets against Farooq Abdullah, others

Srinagar, August 14

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday quashed charge sheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and others in connection with its money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).

A single bench order passed by Justice Sanjeev Kumar said no predicate offence was made against the individuals and hence the charge sheet and supplementary charge sheet filed by the ED are quashed.

The ED had named National Conference chief Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza (former treasurer of JKCA), Mir Manzoor Gazanffer (another ex-treasurer of the JKCA) and some others as accused in the charge sheet.

Those listed in the charge sheet had moved the high court seeking its quashing.

Shariq J Reyaz, representing Mirza and Gazanffer, had moved the high court saying that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case and the charge sheets filed against his clients should be quashed.

The court, after hearing arguments, had reserved the judgement on August 7. The ED was represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju through virtual mode.

Reyaz said the court accepted "our plea that no predicate offence was made out" and that the ED had no jurisdiction over the case.

Mirza was arrested by the ED in September, 2019 and a charge sheet was filed against him in November that year and the trial in that complaint is going on.

Abdullah has been questioned multiple times by the agency in the case.

The federal probe agency had attached assets belonging to Abdullah and others worth Rs 21.55 crore under three separate orders issued by it in the past.

The agency's case is based on a 2018 charge sheet filed by the CBI against the same accused.