22-05-2025
CBI charges J&K ex-governor Satyapal Malik, 6 others in Kiru power plant kickbacks case
Besides Satyapal Malik, the CBI has named three Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd ex-officials—M.S. Babu, a former managing director, and M.K. Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra, both former directors.
Before a Special CBI court in Jammu, the agency filed the charge sheet earlier last week, sources in the agency told ThePrint.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik and six other accused in a case of corruption linked to a hydroelectric project in the Kishtwar district of Jammu.
Satyapal Malik's two private secretaries, Virender Rana and Kanwar Singh Rana, and the chairman and managing director of Patel Engineering Company Limited, Rupen Patel, are also named in the charge sheet.
The development comes while Satyapal Malik is in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi, for—what he has called—a 'very serious' condition.
Responding to the chargesheet, Kanwar Singh Rana has said it is unfortunate, considering Satyapal Malik is fighting for his life in the hospital.
'We have not done anything. We had already answered all the questions asked. They raided my residence in May 2023. I had to appear before the investigating officer in Jammu for a couple of days, and I did that,' Rana told ThePrint.
The cases
The CBI, on 19 and 20 April 2022, filed two cases. One was to probe alleged criminal misconduct by government officials while awarding contracts for an employee healthcare insurance scheme to the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance General Insurance Corporation Ltd. The other was to probe the award of the civil works package of the Kiru Hydroelectric Project to Patel Engineering Company Limited.
The two cases came six months after Satyapal Malik revealed in an October 2021 interview that he got a Rs 300-crore bribe offer for clearing two files as the J&K governor between 23 August 2018 and 30 October 2019.
Initially, Satyapal Malik was considered a witness in the two cases. However, the CBI turned the heat on him after his role in attaining kickbacks from the beneficiary firms came into the picture during its investigation.
Based on government orders, the anti-corruption bureau in Jammu and Kashmir first conducted a preliminary inquiry into the two cases, following which the CBI filed its FIRs.
The FIR in the Kiru power project case alleged that established guidelines on e-tendering had been completely ignored during the award of the contract for civil works to Patel Engineering Company Limited.
There are allegations of malpractices in awarding contracts in both cases—the J&K government wrote to the CBI on 23 March 2022.
A UT government deputy secretary-level officer wrote in a letter to the CBI Director that the finance department, the power development department, and the anti-corruption bureau submitted reports on the cases, and the competent authority under the J&K government, after considering the reports, decided to refer the cases to the CBI.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: 'Modi finished Army with Agniveer scheme, will end farming too' — Satyapal Malik in Q&A with Rahul
