The Enforcement Directorate has issued summons for former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, reported ANI on Thursday. The National Conference leader has been asked to appear before the enforcement agency's office in Srinagar on Thursday.
But the former J&K CM will skip appearing before the agency. In communication to the ED office in Srinagar through email and in person, Abdullah sought exemption on health grounds.
Reacting to the development, Congress 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 Congress MP Pramod Tiwari while speaking to news agency ANI.
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 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 Central Bureau of Investigation in 2018 against the same accused.