4 min readNew DelhiApr 22, 2023 06:59 AM IST
First published on: Apr 21, 2023 at 06:55 PM IST
Former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik, who claimed last week that the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019 could have been averted had the Centre not turned down a request for aircraft to move CRPF personnel, said Friday that he has been called by the CBI for questioning in connection with a case of alleged corruption in the Union Territory.
The case pertains to allegations of irregularities in an insurance scheme involving Anil Ambani-led Reliance General Insurance. It was registered after Malik made allegations of attempts to bribe him in the matter.
This will be the second time he will be questioned by the CBI — the first was in October 2022.
“The CBI officials called me and asked if I am going to be in Delhi one of these days. I told them I will come to Delhi on April 23. They want to seek some clarification on the schemes, for which I will have to go to their guest house on Akbar Road,” Malik told The Indian Express.
“The CBI wanted to seek some clarifications from me on an insurance scheme issue which I had cancelled during my term as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. The insurance scheme for government employees had drawn criticism and protest from employees. The scheme for which Rs 8,500 had to be taken from employees (per employee per year) and Rs 20,000 from retired employees (per employee per year) was not rightly planned. It was a wrong move, so I cancelled it,” he said.
A CBI spokesperson did not confirm or deny the claims made by Malik.
In October 2021, Malik had claimed that he was offered Rs 300 crore in bribes to clear two files including one related to an RSS leader.
In March 2022, J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had said that the allegations made by Malik were serious and that the administration had decided to hand over the case to the CBI.
“As a person holding high office had said something, we have given our consent to the CBI for investigations in both the matters,” Sinha had told reporters in Jammu, adding that the “truth will come out after the investigations”.
The CBI registered two cases in the matter and conducted searches at 14 locations in April 2022.
In a statement then, the CBI had said it “registered two separate cases on the request from Jammu & Kashmir Government on the allegations of malpractices (I) in award of contract of J&K Employees Health Care Insurance Scheme to private company & release of Rs 60 crore (approx) in the year 2017-18 and (II) award of the contract worth Rs 2200 crore (approx) of civil works of Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project (HEP) to a private firm in the year 2019.”
The Reliance General Insurance Company and officials of Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd (CVPPPL) were among those booked by the CBI in the two cases.
In October 2022, the CBI questioned Malik in connection with one of the two cases. “He was examined since these were his allegations. He was asked for more details. He was examined as a witness in the cases,” a CBI official had said then.
While Malik did not specify what files those were, one of these pertained to the government’s deal with Reliance General Insurance for providing health insurance to government employees. (Express photo)
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