The Jammu and Kashmir government has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to look into former Governor Satya Pal Malik’s allegations that he was told he would get a Rs 300-crore bribe if he cleared two files belonging to “Ambani” and a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh officer, ANI reported.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha confirmed the developments. “We want everything to be clear as people of a high rank have made such allegations,” he said.
Malik had been appointed as the Jammu and Kashmir governor on August 21, 2018. He was transferred to Goa in October 2019.
On October 17 last year, he made the bribery charges at an event in Rajasthan. “The secretaries told me you can get Rs 150 crore each for clearing the files,” he claimed. “But I told them that I have come with five kurta-pajamas and will leave with that only.”
In total, he alleged was offered Rs 300 crore for approving files pertaining to two big industrial houses.
Malik, who is currently the governor of Meghalaya, said that he even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform him about the matter. “I straightaway told him [Modi] that I am ready to leave the post,” he added. “But if I stay back, I am not going to clear the files.”
The governor then praised the prime minister for saying there is no need to go soft on corruption.
At the event, Malik also said he is happy that corruption did not take place during his tenure, the Hindustan Times reported. “Corruption was rampant in Kashmir where the commission was 15% as compared to 5% in other parts of the country,” he alleged.
Malik has criticised the Modi-led Union government several times in the past on the way it handled the farmers protests. The three farm laws were repealed on December 1.
In January, Malik claimed that Modi had behaved arrogantly when the two met to discuss the protests against the three farm laws.
In October, Malik had said that the Centre should give a legal guarantee to farmers about minimum support price for crops.
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