PDP demands CBI probe into Kashmir’s cricket scam

Jammu and Kashmir’s main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Monday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CB) probe into the multi-crore-rupee scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), headed by union minister Farooq Abdullah.

The PDP demand for the probe came after its adjournment motion to discuss the scam was dismissed by legislative assembly Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone here Monday morning. The PDP members protested against the speaker’s decision.

After staging a protest within the assembly for more than half-an-hour during question hour, the PDP members staged a walk out.

Talking to media, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti demanded a CBI probe and said it was now “an acknowledged fact that the scam has taken place”.

“It is evident from the fact that JKCA chairman Mohammad Aslam Goni has filed an FIR in Srinagar against the JKCA officials who had opened bogus accounts. If Suresh Kalmadi could be booked for scam in the Commonwealth Games, why similar action cannot be taken against those who were at the helm of affairs of JKCA,” she said.

Mehbooba Mufti said small-time officials were being made “scapegoat but the main culprits who authorized the officials to open the accounts in the bank and allowed them to divert the money were being saved”.

According to reports, Goni had filed an FIR at Ram Munshi Bagh Police station against sacked treasurer Ehsan Mirza and general secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan. They were sacked from the post after embezzlement of several crores of rupees in JKCA funds was detected a few days ago. An amount of Rs.25 crore is understood to have been siphoned off.

Goni, also a political advisor to Farooq Abdullah, claimed Sunday that the JKCA itself had taken action against the culprits and registered an FIR with the police.

“The matter is being investigated, let’s wait for the outcome of that,” he told media Sunday.