Srinagar, September 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has rejected an Enforcement Directorate (ED) application seeking to add charges of dishonestly receiving and concealing stolen property in a case linked to the alleged Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) fund scam.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Parihar dismissed the ED’s plea seeking invocation of Sections 411 and 424 of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), holding that the material currently available did not justify adding the charges.
The High Court, however, set aside the trial court’s finding that the ED lacked locus standi to move such an application. It held that the agency was entitled to bring alleged omissions to the court’s notice.
The ED had challenged a March 22 order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, CBI Cases, which had rejected its application to incorporate the additional charges into the main case being prosecuted by the CBI.
The CBI’s primary charge sheet was filed 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 ED had argued that material gathered during its probe disclosed grounds for framing charges under Sections 411 and 424 as well.
The High Court said the accusations arising from the CBI charge sheet were essentially based on alleged criminal misappropriation and breach of trust.
“The material presently available does not disclose a distinct receipt or retention of stolen property by the respondents in the capacity contemplated by that provision,” the court said, adding that the alleged acts formed part of the principal transaction involving conspiracy, misappropriation and criminal breach of trust.
It further held that the mere movement of funds through different accounts in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy could not, by itself, justify addition of a charge under Section 411.
The court clarified that its decision would not prevent the trial court from exercising its powers under Section 216 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to alter or add charges if fresh evidence emerges during the trial.
The ED case stems from a CBI FIR against former JKCA office-bearers, including General Secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and Treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.
The CBI filed a charge sheet in 2018 against former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, Saleem Khan, Mirza, former JKCA Treasurer Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali, and former accountants Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh. The case concerns alleged misappropriation of Rs 43.69 crore 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 said its probe found that JKCA received Rs 94.06 crore from the BCCI through three bank accounts between the financial years 2005-06 and 2011-12, up to December 2011.
In February 2020, the agency attached assets worth Rs 2.6 crore belonging to Mirza and Gazanffer, alleging that JKCA funds were transferred to personal accounts and subsequently withdrawn or transferred elsewhere.
The ED alleged that Rs 1.31 crore of the laundered amount was received by Gazanffer, who was a member of the JKCA finance committee between 2006 and 2009. It also alleged that a joint personal bank account was opened by Mirza and Gazanffer and that JKCA funds were transferred into it before being withdrawn in cash or moved to other accounts, including an account linked to Mirza’s firm.
The ED further alleged that Mirza remained an authorised signatory on JKCA bank accounts from 2004 until March 2012 and that funds were continuously laundered during the period.
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