New Delhi: The National Conference on Thursday, April 7, flayed the Enforcement Directorate’s move to question party leader Omar Abdullah, terming it a “vicious vilification” of the former chief minister and a continued misuse of the central investigation agency.The ED questioned Abdullah in Delhi in connection with the purchase of a building by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank about 12 years ago.The CBI has booked former J&K Bank chairman Mushtaq Ahmad Shaikh and 18 others for a Rs 800-crore loss to the bank caused due loans to REI Agro, which were issued in violation of guidelines, without tangible security and on fake documents in March 2022.The case was earlier probed by the anti-corruption branch of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2019, several FIRs were filed by the branch. The ED also filed a case on money laundering based on these FIRs later that year.People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti has also been questioned in connection with the case.An NC spokesperson said, “There was a time when polls were announced by the Election Commission but now it seems that they are announced by the ED.”“Over recent years we have seen that wherever state elections are due, agencies like the ED move in and target those parties who pose a challenge to the BJP,” the spokesperson said in a statement.He said the summons to their vice president is in the same vein. “We have no doubt that this fishing expedition will yield no concrete results to the BJP and the people will give a ringing endorsement to the National Conference as and when required.”The spokesperson said Abdullah was asked to appear for questioning in Delhi, noting that the politician did not seek a transfer “in spite of it being the holy month of Ramzan, and Delhi not being his primary place of residence.”The party alleged that the Central government has “made a habit of misusing investigative agencies” and today’s questioning of Abdullah was “another step in the same direction”.Abdullah had been among mainstream political leaders who had been detained in the aftermath of the August 5, 2019, decision by the Narendra Modi government to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. He was released on March 24, 2020.Abdullah had told The Wire that two months into his detention in October 2019 he was told that if he signed a bond pledging silence “for the foreseeable future” on all developments in the state, he would be released immediately.Abdullah is often vocal on Twitter against the Modi dispensation. His last tweet was against the south Delhi mayor’s assertion that 99% of households do not eat non-vegetarian food during Navratri – justifying a ban on meat during this time.“I suppose it’s OK if we ban every non-Muslim resident or tourist from eating in public, especially in the Muslim dominated areas [during Ramazan],” Abdullah had said.(With PTI inputs)