CBI raids J&K ex-Governor Satya Pal Malik’s premises in Kiru hydroelectric project case | India News

The agency, CBI officials said, had registered two separate cases in April 2022 following a request by the Jammu & Kashmir government on the allegations of malpractices. These were: i) an award of contract of J&K Employees’ Health Care Insurance Scheme to private company & release of about Rs 60 crore in 2017-18, and ii) award of a Rs 2,200 crore civil works contract for Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project to a private firm in 2019. “So far, he was examined in the case as a witness in the cases,” a CBI official said.

In October 2021, two years after he moved out as J&K Governor, Satya Pal Malik claimed he was offered Rs 300 crore in bribes to clear two filesincluding one related to a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader. Based on this allegation, the CBI registered two cases in the matter and conducted searches at 14 locations. The agency booked Anil Ambani’s Reliance General Insurance Company and officials of Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd (CVPPPL), among others, in the two cases.

Since 2021, Malik has consistently spoken against the Modi government. It began with claims of corruption in the Kashmir hydel project and then sensational claims of the Centre deliberately failing to fix accountability in Pulwama attack.

CBI raids at former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) governor Satya Pal Malik’s residence at Som Vihar. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

“I told the Prime Minister in the evening that this has happened due to our fault. Had we given the aircraft, this wouldn’t have happened. To which he told me that I should keep quiet now,” Malik said in an interview to Karan Thapar when asked about lapses in the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Malik also accused the Modi government of wanting to make Sajad Lone the CM of J&K in 2018 when he dissolved the Assembly in November that year.

Without naming the person, Malik also accused a senior RSS leader of being involved in the Kashmir hydel.project case. In January 2022, he attacked the Prime Minister in a speech at Dadri in western UP over farmers’ protests.

“When I went to meet the Prime Minister to discuss the farmer issue, I ended up fighting with him within five minutes. He was very arrogant. When I told him that 500 of our own (farmers) had died… he said, ‘Did they die for me?’” he was heard saying in a video clip from the function.

Following Malik’s allegations, J&K Lieutenant General Hands Sinha had said these were serious and that the administration had decided to hand over the probe in the case to the CBI. In the case of Kiru Hydel Project, the CBI FIR said an investigation had been conducted by the J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Department of Power in the matter.

“Perusal of these reports reveals that in the award of civil works package of Kiru Hydroelectric Power Project, guidelines regarding e-tendering were not followed and though a decision was taken in the 47th Board Meeting of CVPPPL for re-tender through e-tendering with reverse auction, after cancellation of ongoing tendering process, the same was not implemented and the tender was finally awarded to Patel Engineering,” the CBI said in its FIR.

The project, whose cost is estimated to be Rs 4,287 crore, has been marred by allegations of sub-standard work and its failure to provide jobs to local unemployed youth, officials claimed. The ACB probe into the matter observed that the project’s tender had been cancelled in the 47th Board Meeting of the CVPPPL, but was revived in the 48th Board Meeting and awarded to Patel Engineering.

“The coordinated raids were conducted in eight States/UTs; Jammu and Kashmir, DelhiUP, Haryana, MumbaiPatna, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Barmer, Nagaur and Chandigarh. Three places in Delhi, Gurugram and Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat belong to Malik. Some other places belong to his associates, and some others to the associates of the accused include IAS officer Naveen Choudhary, the then chairman of CVPPPL; MD MS Babu; Directors MK Mittal and Arun Mishra,” another source said.