The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday summoned former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik in connection with an insurance scam.
According to reports, the agency asked Malik to appear before CBI on April 28 as a witness in a case of alleged corruption by Reliance General Insurance.
The former governor informed PTI that the CBI asked for his presence at the agency’s Akbar Road guesthouse for “certain clarification.”
He said, “The CBI wants certain clarifications in connection with the case reported by me.”
“They want certain clarifications for which they want my presence. I am going to Rajasthan so I have given them dates from April 27 to 29 when I am available,” he told PTI.
Notably, Malik had cancelled a contract by Reliance in 2018 during his tenure as governor of the Union Territory.
The scheme which covered around 3.5 lakh employees was rolled out in September 2018, however, it was cancelled within a month.
During that time, Malik informed that state government employees wanted it to be cancelled as they found it to be ‘fraudulent’.
Malik said, “I myself went through files, and when I came to the conclusion that the contract was awarded wrongly, I cancelled it.”
In April 2022, the CBI lodged two FIRs in response to a corruption accusation made by Satyapal Malik in the awarding of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees and civil works worth Rs. 2,200 crore to the Kiru hydroelectric power.
It may be mentioned that last week, Malik triggered a political storm with his comments about the 2019 Pulwama attack.
In an interview with the news website The Wire, Malik claimed that security lapses led to the Pulwama attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), among whom one was from Assam, were martyred. He informed that a request by paramilitary force asking for an aircraft to commute was denied by the centre which in turn led to the jawans to travel by road.
