Court Issues Non-bailable Warrant Against Farooq Abdullah in JKCA Case
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: A court in Srinagar on Thursday (March 12, 2026) issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in connection with the alleged Rs 43 crore Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) scam, say reports.
The order came just hours after an attempted assassination bid on the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
The order was passed by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Srinagar, Tabassum, after Abdullah failed to appear during the hearing for the framing of charges, the Times of India reports. The court rejected an exemption plea filed on his behalf after his counsel informed the court that Abdullah could neither appear physically nor through virtual mode.
"Application for exemption is rejected. Office is directed to issue NBW against accused No. 5 [Abdullah]," the court reportedly said in its order.
The court also dismissed an exemption plea filed by another accused, Manzoor Gazanfar Ali, and issued a non-bailable warrant against him as well.
The matter has been listed for the recording of statements of the accused on March 30. The court said appropriate orders would follow if any of the accused fail to appear on the next date of hearing, Daily Exelsior reports.
The case is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which in 2018 chargesheeted Abdullah and several others for allegedly siphoning off around Rs 43 crore from grants provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the JKCA.
According to the CBI, the funds were allegedly misappropriated between 2002 and 2011, when Abdullah was president of the cricket body.
As per reports, during an earlier hearing, the court observed that there was prima facie evidence against the accused and said the essential ingredients of offences under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 409 of the Ranbir Penal Code were made out.
The NBW is meant to force the appearance in person of the two accused, and while it does not imply arrest is inevitable, failure to do so at the hearing could result in arrest. As well, the police may decide to arrest Abdullah and Ali in order to secure their appearance.
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