The CBI filed a chargesheet against seven people, including former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, on Thursday in connection with in the award of a contract for a hydel project in Kishtwar district.
CBI sources identified the other six accused as M S Babu, MD of Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd; board directors M K Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra; private secretaries Virendra Rana and Kanwar Singh Rana; and a private person, Kanwaljit Singh Duggal.
The CBI registered two cases in April 2022 following a request from the & Kashmir government over the allegations of malpractices related to i) the award of a contract of the J&K Employees’ Health Care Insurance Scheme to private company and the release of about Rs 60 crore in 2017-18, and ii) the award of a Rs 2,200-crore civil work contract for Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project to a private firm in 2019.
“So far Satya Pal Malik was examined as a witness in the cases,” a CBI official said.
In October 2021, two years after he demitted office as governor, Satya Pal Malik claimed he was offered Rs 300 crore in bribes to clear two files, including 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, among others, in the two cases.
Since 2021, Malik has consistently spoken against the 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 the Pulwama terrorist attack.
Following Malik’s allegations, J&K Lieutenant General said these were serious and that the administration had decided to hand over the probe in the case to the CBI. In the case related to the Kiru hydel project, the CBI FIR said an investigation had been conducted by the J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau and the power department 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 substandard 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.
