Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): In an interesting development, the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) announced it will host three Ranji Trophy matches after a six-year break. This development comes following the Board of Cricket Control of India's (BCCI) decision to grant hosting rights to the JKCA.
JKCA officials confirmed that two matches will take place in Srinagar at the Sher-i-Kashmir Cricket Stadium, while the third match will be held in Jammu. The schedule for the Jammu game is yet to be announced. The BCCI's match schedule indicates that J&K's Ranji team will face Maharashtra and Services in Srinagar in October this year.
In 2017, the BCCI had moved all domestic games out of the valley after the JKCA reported its inability to host them, including U-19 and U-23 matches. The BCCI had also taken responsibility for the logistics of the state teams. JKCA officials attributed this to their accounts being frozen by judicial authorities due to allegations of financial misappropriation.
In July 2017, the CBI filed a charge-sheet before the CJM Srinagar, charging Farooq Abdullah, then president of the JKCA, Muhammad Saleem Khan, then general secretary, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, then treasurer, and Bashir Ahmad Misgar, an executive at J&K Bank, with criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the RPC.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that Abdullah misused his position as president of the JKCA to appoint individuals who would facilitate the laundering of BCCI-sponsored funds. The agency's probe revealed that over Rs 45 crore of JKCA funds had been siphoned off, including Rs 25 crore in cash withdrawals without justification. From 2005 to 2011, the JKCA received a total of Rs 109.78 crore from the BCCI for various cricket activities in the erstwhile state.
