Ex-chairman threatens to rattle cricket board in J&K, expose scam details

A day after National Conference president and Union Minister Farooq Abdullah was re-elected as president of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), a former officer bearer of the Association on Tuesday threatened to make facts about multi-crore scam public.

Abdullah, who has been president of JKCA for more than three decades now, was elected unopposed for another three-year term on Monday amid allegations by some members that the elections were manipulated and were not fair.

Mohammad Aslam Goni, the former chairman of JKCA was on Tuesday quoted by a local news agency as saying that he had written an email to Abdullah advising him not to hold any elections at this time.

A multi-crore embezzle-ment scam was unearthed in the JKCA in 2012 leading to ouster of two officials – then general secretary Eshan Mirza and then chief administrative officer Saleem Khan.

While reacting to Abdullah’s statement that Mirza has deposited post dated cheques of Rs 2 crores, Goni said “the scam is worth more than Rs 22 crore.”

The former JKCA chairman claimed that he was the person who became the first informant of the scam and informed the police.

“I remained silent since then only because I want interests of JKCA to be safeguarded. I am worries that the BCCI should not disaffiliate JKCA,” he said.

He revealed that there is already Rs 70 to 80 crore pending with the BCCI and no efforts are being made to release that amount.

He threatened that in the near future he will make the facts about the scam public if the action is not taken against the accused.

Meanwhile, while terming the re-election of Abdullah as another example of ‘politico-criminal nexus’ in the state, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Tuesday demanded prosecution of the NC chief and others accused in the JKCA scam.

In a statement, senior party leader and former finance minister Tariq Hameed Karra said, “The hush-hush manner in which Abdullah reinstalled himself as the president of JKCA is an assault on the interests of youth who have suffered immensely as a result of the NC greediness and lust for power.”

Karra also claimed that documentary evidences substantiate that over Rs 50 crore were withdrawn from accounts of the JKCA with Abdullah’s consent and “even the police investigation has reportedly established his involvement in the multi-crore fraud.”

Abdullah had earlier this month in an interview with local media said he doesn’t want to be the JKCA president again. “I have had my time; I have contested many an election, now it is time for someone else to take over. Working committee and general body will nominate the new guy. I won’t be nominating anyone for the post,” he had said.