NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet naming former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik and six others in connection with alleged corruption in the award of Rs 2,200-crore civil works for Kiru hydropower project, officials said on Thursday.
According to the officials, the charge sheet has been filed before a special court after three years of probe, which also has names of two of Malik’s two aides - Virender Rana and Kanwar Singh Rana.
The other persons named in the charge sheet include the then Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd (CVPPPL) managing director MS Babu, its directors Arun Kumar Mishra and MK Mittal, managing director of construction firm Patel Engineering Ltd Rupen Patel and private person Kanwaljeet Singh Duggal, the officials said.
Meanwhile, in an ‘X’ post Malik said he was admitted in the hospital and not in a condition to talk to anyone. He said he was getting calls from many well-wishers, which he was unable to take. In the same post he also pasted a picture of hime lying on a hospital bed.
It is to be remembered that the CBI after taking over the probe into the case had conducted searches at the premises of Malik and others in February last year.
The case pertains to the alleged malpractices in the award of the contract worth about Rs 2,200 crore of civil works of the Kiru Hydroelectric Power (HEP) Project to a private company in 2019, the CBI had said after the registration of the FIR in 2022.
Malik, who was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir from August 23, 2018 to October 30, 2019, had claimed that he was offered a Rs 300-crore bribe for clearing two files, including the one, which pertained to the project. He denied allegations of corruption against him after the agency conducted a search operation last year.
Malik had then said his residence was raided by the CBI instead of investigating the people he had complained against and who were involved in corruption.
“They will not get anything except four-five kurtas and pyjamas. The dictator is trying to scare me by misusing government agencies. I am a farmer's son, I will neither be afraid nor bow down,” he had then post on his ‘X’ handle.
The CBI had initially registered the FIR against Navin Kumar Choudhary, the then chairman of the CVPPPL, and other officials including Babu, Mittal and Mishra, besides construction firm Patel Engineering.
“Though a decision was taken in the 47th board meeting of CVPPPL for re-tender through e-tendering with a reverse auction after the cancellation of the ongoing tendering process, the same was not implemented (according to the decision taken in the 48th board meeting) and the tender was finally awarded to Patel Engineering Limited,” the CBI had alleged in its FIR.
