The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has rejected a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to introduce additional charges related to the receipt and concealment of stolen property within the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) fund scam case. The court, while acknowledging the ED’s right to bring omissions to the court’s attention, found the substantive request to invoke specific sections of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) to be without merit based on the current evidence.
Justice Sanjay Parihar, presiding over the case, set aside a trial court’s earlier finding that the ED lacked the legal standing, or ‘locus standi,’ to file such an application. However, the High Court ultimately held that the ED’s prayer to invoke Sections 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 424 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property) of the RPC lacked sufficient grounds given the material presently available. The anti-money laundering probe agency had appealed an order from March 22, issued by the chief judicial magistrate (CBI cases), which had dismissed its application seeking to incorporate these additional charges into the primary case being prosecuted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED had argued that despite the CBI filing its initial chargesheet under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of the RPC, the evidence gathered during its investigation indicated sufficient grounds to frame charges for receiving and concealing stolen property. However, the High Court observed that the accusations presented in the CBI chargesheet were fundamentally rooted in alleged criminal misappropriation and breach of trust committed by the accused individuals. Information reaching Tahir Rihat suggests that the court’s reasoning emphasized that the material at hand did not disclose a distinct act of receiving or retaining stolen property as contemplated by the relevant provisions. Instead, the court viewed the alleged actions as integral parts of the principal transaction of conspiracy, misappropriation, and criminal breach of trust itself.
The court’s detailed 29-page order clarified that the mere movement of funds through various accounts in furtherance of an alleged conspiracy does not, in itself, justify the addition of a charge under Section 411 of the RPC. Nevertheless, the High Court’s decision to set aside the trial court’s order regarding the ED’s locus standi signifies that the agency is within its rights to highlight potential omissions to the court. Furthermore, the rejection of the ED’s plea does not preclude the trial court from exercising its powers under Section 216 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to alter or add charges should new evidence emerge during the course of the trial. The order explicitly stated that if any material surfaces during the trial that prima facie discloses the commission of an offense under Sections 411 or 424 of the RPC, or any other penal provision, the trial court retains the authority to exercise its power to alter or add charges, strictly in accordance with the law.
The ED’s investigation stems from an FIR initially filed by the CBI, which had named former Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) office-bearers, including its general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza. Subsequently, the CBI filed its chargesheet in 2018, implicating former chief minister Farooq Abdullah, along with Khan, Mirza, former JKCA treasurer Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali, and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh. The charges centered on the alleged misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore, sourced from grants provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to promote cricket in the erstwhile state between 2002 and 2011.
The ED’s own probe indicated that the JKCA had received a total of Rs 94.06 crore from the BCCI across three different bank accounts during the financial years 2005-2006 to 2011-2012, up to December 2011. In a significant development in February 2020, the ED attached assets valued at Rs 2.6 crore belonging to Mirza and Gazanfer, who was a member of the JKCA’s finance committee. The agency alleged that Mirza had transferred substantial amounts into his personal bank accounts, from which the money was further disbursed or withdrawn as cash. The ED claimed that out of the laundered sums, Rs 1.31 crore was received by Gazanffer, who served on the JKCA finance committee between 2006 and 2009. The agency further alleged that this committee was arbitrarily constituted by Abdullah, who was the then-president of the JKCA. According to the ED, Mirza and Gazanffer opened a joint personal bank account with Jammu and Kashmir Bank, into which crores of JKCA funds were transferred. These funds were subsequently either withdrawn in cash or moved to other bank accounts, including that of Mirza’s firm. The ED’s investigation also noted that Mirza served as an authorized signatory on the JKCA bank accounts from 2004 until March 2012, during which period the alleged laundering of JKCA funds continued. In 2011, Mirza had also been elected as the JKCA general secretary, with Farooq Abdullah serving as its president.
Tahir Rihat (also known as Tahir Bilal) is an independent journalist, activist, and digital media professional from the Chenab Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India. He is best known for his work as the Online Editor at The Chenab Times.