He is Mustaque Ahmed Bhat. He hails from Sopore district, around 50 kilometers from Srinagar. He played football once at the district level where he lived. Later he turned into a referee as well as a D-licensed coach. Still, he was not an exception. But in 2019 Mushi Bhat (fondly called) turned into an unsung hero, trying to unearth the huge financial scam that was being allegedly nourished by the J&K Football Association top brass for more than 20 years. 

Bhat lodged a written complaint to all the respective authorities including the Crime Branch, CID, Anti-Corruption Bureau, and even to the grievance department under the Governor against the four key persons of the state football association, Zameed Ahmed Thakur, Surinder Singh Bunty, SA Hameed, and Fayaz Ahmed Sofi. 

Bhat speaking to Parallel Sports recently said, “I made complaints to all the respective authorities against these four persons who have been running the association for more than 20 years. Even, I lodged an FIR against their fraud activities. They allegedly embezzled a huge amount of money, nearly Rs 3 crores in the last four to five years. Following my initiatives, an investigation started and very recently Fayaz Ahmed Sofi has been arrested.”

According to Bhat, the big scam began in 2017 when the government's initiative guided J&K Football Association to organize the Mufti Mohammed Memorial football competition. Bhat alleged that these fellows had withdrawn Rs 43 lakhs, submitting false bills for the food (biriyani). Then Bhat who was one of the referees in the recently-concluded All-India Women Police football competition alleged revealing, "The central government allotted J&K to host Khelo India School football games in the same 2017. Significantly, in that year, Kashmir was fully covered in snow. We even could not walk down the streets. It was impossible to host any outdoor game. Secondly, many participating schools did not receive official letters from the organizers regarding the Khelo India School football games and these four alleged persons pilfered a huge amount from the sanctioned money.” 

Mushi Bhat’s fight has not stopped yet. He added, “The others, apart from Sofi are still there, officially holding the posts of J&K Football association. They are awaiting the J&K Football Association election. Once election takes place they will be easily able to continue the corruption.”

So, he wants the All India Football Federation to interfere into the matter and make an annulment of the election until the other alleged persons are arrested.