New Delhi: Several political leaders on Thursday criticized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after the probe agency summoned former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah for questioning in connection with an alleged money laundering case.
The National Conference leader was asked to appear before the enforcement agency’s office in Srinagar on Thursday. However, the former J&K CM skipped the summon on medical grounds.
Leaders such as West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, and Congress MP Pramod Tiwari came down heavily on the agency for summoning the veteran leader.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury dubbed the Directorate Enforcement (ED) an ‘idiot’ and alleged that the ED was being run under the command of the central government.
“Whom the ED will summon and whom not is the ED’s own matter. We just know that our ED is an ‘idiot’ and it only runs on the directions of the (central) government. This is nothing but a conspiracy against Farooq Abdullah, who is a renowned politician,” said Chowdhury.
VIDEO | “We know that ED (Enforcement Directorate) operates on the directions of the central government. This is just a conspiracy against Farooq Abdullah,” says Congress leader @adhirrcinc on the ED summons to National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah. pic.twitter.com/OyjICXIcyS
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 11, 2024
PDP chief Mufti alleged that the ED summons opposition leaders whenever there’s an election in any state or parliamentary elections.
“Whenever there’s an election in any state or parliamentary elections, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) starts to summon opposition leaders. There’s no surprise in this (ED summon). We don’t know how many more will they (ED) summon. Whether it’s ED, NIA or CBI, they are all just to harass the opposition leaders,” she said.
VIDEO | “Whenever there’s an election in any state or parliamentary elections, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) starts to summon opposition leaders. There’s no surprise in this (ED summon). We don’t know how many more will they (ED) summon. Whether it’s ED, NIA or CBI, they are… pic.twitter.com/aRHXUtXNxV
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 11, 2024
Congress MP Pramod Tiwari called it a “political vendetta” saying Abdullah being a tall leader was “bound to be punished”.
“Farooq Abdullah is a tall leader. He was a Union Minister too and is a bold voice of the INDIA Alliance today. His father and he took strong political steps regarding Kashmir…So, he was bound to be punished. I think this is political vendetta,” said Tiwari while speaking to news agency ANI.
#WATCH | On Farooq Abdullah being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari says, “Farooq Abdullah is a tall leader. He was a Union Minister too and is a bold voice of the INDIA Alliance today. His father and he took… https://t.co/gb5pvxMdqq pic.twitter.com/hllgpnoJse
— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2024
What Is The Case?
According to news agency PTI, the 86-year-old Kashmiri politician has been called by the enforcement agency in connection with its probe into the alleged irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
The JKCA scam, involving 114 crore rupees, pertains to a period between 2002 and 12 when Abdullah was the president of the cricketing association.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha MP was named in the chargesheet filed by ED in the case in 2022.
As per the PTI report, the case pertains to siphoning off the funds of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of JKCA office bearers, and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from JKCA bank accounts, the ED had said.
The ED case stems from a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2018 against the same accused.