Demands for fresh JKCA elections

At least 20 working committee members on Wednesday demanded that the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association president Farooq Abdullah dissolve the existing set-up of office bearers for the sake of an independent inquiry into the alleged embezzlement of funds.

"We demand that the president should dissolve the existing set up and call for a fresh election to pave way for an independent inquiry into the alleged scam," ex-chairman of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association Mehboob Iqbal said in Srinagar.

The 20 members of the working committee met at the JKCA office in Srinagar and passed a resolution which also called for five-year ban on the two clubs represented by Ahsan Mirza and Mohammad Saleem Khan.

Mirza and Khan are accused of siphoning off JKCA funds when they were treasurer and general secretary of the association, respectively, in 2009.

The working committee members said that a detailed inquiry into the scam should be conducted to fix the responsibility and unmask the people involved in it.

"We don't want that only two persons be made the scapegoat for the irregularities. The chairman of the association cannot absolve himself of the responsibility and should immediately step down," Iqbal, who was flanked by 19 other members, said.

The JKCA has registered a case against Mirza and Khan for the alleged embezzlement of funds. Police has seized the records of the association from June 2011 onwards.

However, another ex-JKCA chairman Ashutosh Sharma claimed that the case registered against the duo was only an eyewash.

Asked about the records between June 2003 to May 2011, Sharma said the documents are still with Mirza.

In response to a question, they said an in-house probe by former sportspersons of the JKCA is a better option as the members are better acquainted with the business of the association.

Some of the members even called for the resignation of Abdullah, saying he will have to seek fresh mandate as and when elections are held.

The group, however, refuted claims that there is factionalism in the JKCA and dismissed suggestions that there are plans to float a parallel association.