The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday conducted raids at three premises linked to former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, in connection with the alleged corruption in the awarding of a contract for the Kiru Hydropower project, reported The Indian Express
The central agency raided 30 locations in total, according to the newspaper. The case pertains to alleged corruption to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore in the civil works of the hydropower project, according to PTI.
Earlier, the central agency had booked former Chenab Valley Power Projects chairman Navin Kumar Chaudhary and other former officials MS Babu, MK Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra and Patel Engineering Limited in connection with the case.
Following the raids, Malik said that government agencies were being misused to intimidate him. He said that the searches at his premises took place despite him being admitted to a hospital for the last few days and his driver and assistant were also being “harassed”.
“My residence was raided by the CBI instead of investigating the people I had complained about who were involved in corruption,” he said in a social media post. “You will not get anything except four to five kurtas and pyjamas from my possession. I am a farmer’s son, I will neither be afraid nor bow down.”
In October 2021, Malik, who served as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir between August 2018 and October 2019, claimed that he was told he would get a Rs 300 crore bribe if he cleared two files, including one related to the project. Another file was related to a health insurance policy for government employees, journalists and pensioners in Jammu and Kashmir.
The former governor said that he had cancelled both the deals. He said he had informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the matter. “I straightaway told him [Modi] that I am ready to leave the post but if I stay back, I am not going to clear the files,” Malik said.
However, in April last year, Malik was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case of alleged corruption in the health insurance policy.
He was summoned by the agency days after he claimed in an interview with The Wire that Modi told him not to speak about lapses that led to the Pulwama attack in 2019.
On February 14, 2019, an explosive-laden car driven by a suicide bomber rammed into a bus carrying Central Reserve Police Force personnel, killing 40 of them in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Pakistani terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the interview, Malik claimed that the attack took place due to the incompetence and negligence of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Union home ministry headed by Rajnath Singh at that time. The Central Reserve Police Force reports to the Union home ministry.
He also stated that the prime minister “does not hate corruption much”.
He claimed that he was removed as governor of Goa in August 2020 and sent to Meghalaya after he raised several instances of corruption with the prime minister. Malik served as the governor of Goa from November 2019 to August 2020.
Malik also alleged that the persons around the prime minister are involved in corruption and often use his office’s name.
A month later, he had claimed that the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were “fought on the bodies of our soldiers”, referring to the Pulwama attacks.
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