Srinagar Court's Warrant Against Farooq Abdullah In J&K Cricket Body Case

A court in Srinagar Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant against Farooq Abdullah for not appearing before it after rejecting his exemption plea in a case related to multi-crore scam linked to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).

The court had fixed March 12 for framing of charges against Farooq Abdullah and other accused in the case of misappropriation funds in JKCA. The CBI has filed a charge sheet in the case in 2018. Since then trial could not be started because of the delay in framing of charges. 

Today, Farooq Abdullah did not appear before the court as he was in Jammu where he survived an assassination attempt late Wednesday evening. He was targetted by a man with his licensed revolver during a wedding event in the Greater Kailash area on the outskirts of Jammu.

The attacker has been identified as Kamal Singh Jamwal. He approached Abdullah from behind and took aim at the leader, CCTV visuals showed yesterday. He did pull the trigger, but had been pushed away by the security by then. The bullet missed the target, and Abdullah escaped unhurt.

Mr Abdullah's counsel filed an application for exemption but the Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar rejected the plea.

A multi crore scam was unearthed in the Cricket Association between 2001 and 2011 when Mr Abdullah was the president of the cricket body. Farooq Abdullah has denied allegations, saying his name is being dragged into the scam to tarnish his image.

The court said the accused was given an option to ensure his  presence through virtual mode but he didn't appear, following which the judge issued a non-bailable warrant against him and fixed the next date of hearing on March 30.