Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik has come under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with an alleged graft case related to the awarding of a contract worth Rs 2,200 crore for the Kiru Hydro Power Project in Kishtwar in 2019. The CBI launched a massive operation, raiding at least 30 locations, including premises in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in multiple cities across the country.
The CBI, deploying approximately 100 officers, initiated the operation in the morning hours to conduct searches at various locations linked to the case. Reacting to the development, Satya Pal Malik, who has been hospitalized for the past few days, expressed his dismay, stating, “Despite my illness, my residence is being raided by authoritarian forces. My driver and assistant are being needlessly harassed through these searches.”
The case revolves around alleged malpractices in the awarding of the contract for the civil works of the Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project to a private company in 2019. Those named in the case include former officials of the Chenab Valley Power Projects (Private) Limited, including Navin Kumar Chaudhary, M S Babu, M K Mittal, and Arun Kumar Mishra, along with Patel Engineering Limited.
Navin Kumar Chaudhary, a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre (now AGMUT cadre), who served as the former chairman of the Chenab Valley Power Projects (Private) Limited, is among the individuals under investigation.
In a related development, the CBI had raided six individuals across 12 locations in Rajasthan and Delhi last week in connection with the same project. Among those targeted was Sunak Bali, the former press secretary to Governor Malik in Jammu and Kashmir, whose premises in Delhi’s Defence Colony and West End were searched. Bali is reportedly the main suspect in the misappropriation of funds associated with the project. However, Malik came to Bali’s defense, stating, “It is unfortunate that the CBI is harassing the complainant in this case. He was my press advisor in J&K without any government salary.”
