Three residential premises linked to Satya Pal Malik, former Jammu and Kashmir governor, are being raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation in Delhi in the alleged Kiru Hydropower project corruption case, Malik’s personal assistant Kunwar Singh Rana confirmed to Newslaundry.   

The raid has been going on at Malik’s residence in Som Vihar Apartments, his relative’s residence in Dwarka, and his son’s house on Khel Gaon Marg since 8 am. Rana said he could not reveal the name of the relative. “But no one has been residing in the Dwarka residence for at least 12 years.”

Multiple CBI teams are reportedly conducting searches at about 30 locations across eight states and Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Mumbai, Bihar and Rajasthan over the case. These include premises linked to the accused, including Navin Kumar Chaudhary, former chairman of the Chenab Valley Power Projects, Patel Engineering Limited, and former government officials, including MS Babu, MK Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra.

Amid the searches, Malik posted on X that he has been sick and hospitalised for about four days. “Despite this, my house is being raided by the dictator through government agencies.”  

The post said the politician’s driver and assistant are also being raided, “and harassed unnecessarily”.

In another post on X, Malik said that “instead of investigating the people who he had complained about, his residence was being raided by the CBI”. He said the investigating authorities will not find anything at his residence except “4-5 kurtas and pyjamas”, and that “dictator” was trying to scare him “by misusing government agencies”.

Rana told Newslaundry that Malik is in the ICU at one of the Max Hospitals in Delhi. He refused to reveal the name of the hospital, saying Malik does not want to speak to the media. “He is undergoing treatment for an infection in his leg. He also regularly has acute chest pain.”

Newslaundry tried to reach out to Malik for a response but his phone was switched off. This report will be updated if he responds. 

Malik served as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir between August 2018 and October 2019, and is known to be critical of the Modi government. 

In October 2021, the former governor claimed that he was offered a bribe of about Rs 300 crore to give approvals on two files, one of which was reportedly related to the Kiru Hydropower Project, and the other was concerned with a health insurance policy for government employees, journalists, and pensioners in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Based on his allegations, the CBI registered two cases in 2022. A CBI official told Indian Express that the cases pertained to malpractice in awarding the contracts of the J&K Employees Healthcare Insurance Scheme to a private company, and the release of Rs 60 crore in 2017-18. The other case pertained to the awarding of a Rs 2,200 crore contract to a private firm for the Kiru Hydro Power Project in 2019.

In April last year, Malik was questioned by the CBI in the case of alleged corruption in the health insurance policy. It came days after Malik claimed in an interview with The Wire that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him not to speak about the lapses that led to the Pulwama attack in 2019.

Rana claimed that the CBI had also raided Malik’s paternal grandparents’ house in Nangloi last year. 

On the action against Malik, Rana asked, “Why is the government raiding locations linked to Malik and his associates when he was the one to level allegations against others? Where in the world does this happen?”

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