Farooq appears in court in JKCA case, pleads not guilty

SRINAGAR: Former Prime Minister and National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah appeared before a Srinagar court on Monday in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) case and pleaded “not guilty” after the charges were read out to him.According to Special Prosecutor Farhat Zia, Farooq appeared virtually before the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The case was included in the prosecution’s evidence list on April 30.On March 5, the CJM dismissed the former chief minister’s plea to be excused from appearing in the case personally.In 2018, the CBI had charged Farooq and others for allegedly misappropriating Rs 43 crore from grants provided to the JKCA by the Board of Control for Cricket in India between 2002 and 2011, when he was the JKCA chairman.The CBI named Farooq and three others – then JKCA secretary-general Mohammad Saleem Khan, former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and J&K Bank executive Bashir Ahmad Misgar – in the chargesheet.