Farooq Abdullah skips court hearing in JKCA 'scam' case due to 'health issues'
Srinagar (PTI): National Conference president Farooq Abdullah did not appear before the court in a money laundering case related to the alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) here on Saturday due to health issues .
As the case, before the court of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Srinagar, was called, Abdullah's lawyer Ishtiyaq Ahmad Khan said the NC chief is not able to attend the court due to health issues.
The judge told Khan that Abdullah should be present in the court on the next date of hearing, which is listed on September 26. The lawyer assured it that the former J-K chief minister will attend that hearing.
The court had on July 23 issued summons to Abdullah on a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him and others in the JKCA money laundering case.
Abdullah, the Member of Parliament from Srinagar, has been questioned multiple times by the agency in this case.
He was the JKCA president from 2001 to 2012 and the scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED is about alleged financial misappropriation between 2004 and 2009.
The ED has attached properties worth over Rs 21 crore in the case already. This includes Rs 11.86 crore of immovable assets belonging to Abdullah.
The ED claimed that its probe so far has revealed that Ahsan Ahmad Mirza (former treasurer, JKCA) in connivance with other office-bearers of the JKCA, had misappropriated JKCA funds to the tune of Rs 51.90 crore and utilised proceeds of crime for settling his personal and business liabilities".
The agency initiated the money laundering probe against the JKCA office-bearers on the basis of a case registered at the Rammunshi Bagh police station in Srinagar.
The case was later transferred to the CBI on the high court's directions.
The CBI has filed a chargesheet in the case against the former JKCA office-bearers for misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 43.69 crore.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
