The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to carry out a preliminary inquiry into allegations of favouritism in allotting government contracts in Arunachal Pradesh to companies linked to the family members of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, The Indian Express reported.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria passed the order on public interest litigations by two non-governmental organisations Save Mon Region Federation and Voluntary Arunachal Senaa.

Advertisement

The petitioners alleged that contracts and tenders worth more than Rs 1,200 crore had been awarded to companies linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, his wife Tsering Dolma and nephew Tsering Tashi, the newspaper reported.

The court directed the CBI to look into the contracts awarded between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2025. It told the agency to file a status report in 16 weeks, Bar and Bench reported.

The plea has alleged favouritism in the contracts awarded to Brand Eagles, a firm linked to Tsering Dolma and to Alliance Trading Company, owned by Tsering Tashi. This constituted a violation of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the code of conduct for ministers, the petitioners contended.

Advertisement

In December, The Indian Express had reported that the Arunachal Pradesh government had awarded 146 work contracts to two firms owned by Dolma and one company each owned by the chief minister’s brother Tashi Khandu and sister-in-law Nima Drema in Tawang district between 2012 and 2023. The contracts were said to be worth Rs 383.7 crore.

Fifty-nine of these contracts – worth Rs 16.8 crore – were awarded without a tender process being undertaken, The Indian Express reported. At least 11 of the work orders allegedly exceeded the limit of Rs 50 lakh for contracts issued without tenders.

The contracts were for public infrastructure work such as building or maintaining roads and bridges, irrigation channels and power lines.