NC CHIEF FAROOQ ABDULLAH SUMMONED BY ED IN PMLA CASE
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah has been summoned by the ED for questioning in a money laundering case in Delhi on May 31, official sources said on Friday.
The questioning is reported to be in connection with a case of alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) that is being probed by the federal agency.
The summon has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for appearance at the Enforcement Directorate headquarters in Delhi on May 31.
Party slams BJP
Farooq Abdullah’s summoning by the ED for questioning next week triggered harsh reactions from his party, which slammed the BJP. The NC said that this was the price opposition parties paid near election time. “Every time elections are expected to be announced in any state, the investigative agencies move in first to clear the path for the BJP. This appears to be the case this time as well and this is the price opposition parties pay for opposing this government,” NC spokesperson Imran Dar said in a statement on Friday .
“Dr Abdullah has continued to maintain his innocence in the matter and has cooperated with the investigative agencies and will do so in this case as well. It’s also not a coincidence that the only leaders targeted in J&K belong to the PAGD alliance parties,” he said. Abdullah has been asked to come for questioning to Chandigarh on May 31. Earlier, in 2019 and 2020, he was questioned in the case in J&K. The case pertains to the Rs 113-crore alleged fraud linked to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. Former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, have also been booked in the case. Abdullah has responded by saying that the properties attached by the ED in the case were not related to the alleged crime and were either ancestral or acquired before the offence.