J&K High Court Quashes ED Charges

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charge sheets against former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and others in connection with alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). Justice Sanjeev Kumar ruled that no predicate offence was established against the accused, thereby invalidating the charge sheets and supplementary charge sheets. The ED had based its case on a 2018 charge sheet by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which alleged the misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to ₹43.69 crore. The ED's investigation found that JKCA received ₹94.06 crore from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and multiple bank accounts were used for laundering these funds. The court accepted the defendants' plea that the ED lacked jurisdiction in this matter. This ruling affects several individuals, including two former JKCA treasurers, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, who were also named in the charge sheets.