Srinagar:
Union Minister Farooq Abdullah has denied the allegations levelled against him by two former treasurers of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) in connection with what is now being called as the J&K cricket scam. Mir Manzoor Gazanfar, who resigned as the treasurer of JKCA in 2008, has claimed that Mr Abdullah visited his hotel in Srinagar and made him sign blank cheques.
Mr Abdullah, who is a senior National Conference leader, heads the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association.
Speaking to NDTV, Mr Abdullah said that the charges against him are "politically motivated". "I never asked ex-treasurers to sign any cheques," he said.
"I have never handled money, I am open to any investigation," Mr Abdullah added.
The fresh allegation comes just days after Mr Abdullah was accused of participating in a fraud and embezzlement of funds in the KKCA. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Gazanfar narrated the entire sequence of events that have led him to take on Mr Abdullah. "I was taking my father to the doctor. All of a sudden, a call comes from the worthy president. He says he will be coming to see me. He came with Ehsan Mirza. He said the association has become defunct because I don't sign the cheques. I denied, but after he insisted, I signed a few cheques," Mr Gazanfar said, adding that he admits what he did was wrong. "I did it on the insistence of the worthy president. I had trust in him. I still trust him. He is also being misled and I am also misled," Mr Gazanfar said.
Ehsan Mirza, the man Mr Gazanfar alleges accompanied Mr Abdullah when he visited him, is also a former treasurer of the JKCA. He is accused of defrauding the association of over Rs. 30 crore after allegedly opening bogus bank accounts on its behalf. He was later sacked on charges of embezzlement. He, however, claims that he has been made a scapegoat.
NDTV had accessed documents that purportedly showed that Mr Abdullah recommended a loan of almost Rs. 2 crore in favour of Mr Mirza. The documents comprise copies of bank account statements and a letter purportedly signed by Mr Abdullah recommending that Mr Mirza be given a loan of Rs. 1.90 crore against deposits of the cricket association at the Khanyar Branch of J&K Bank. The account in this branch is allegedly one of the many bogus accounts being operated from four banks by Mr Mirza. Most of the money, which had been sent by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the promotion of the sport in the state, was landing in the 'shadow' accounts of the cricket association.
Mr Abdullah had denied that there was "any embezzlement of funds." He had also clarified that Mr Mirza had extended an interest-free loan to the cricket association during the time its accounts had been sealed by the courts. It was this amount, to the tune of Rs. 1.91 crore, which was cleared by the association through a resolution to pay back Mr Mirza. "I have never taken a penny from the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association in any form," he said.
Farooq Abdullah's National Conference rules Jammu and Kashmir and his son Omar Abdullah is the chief minister of the state.