Insurance Scam Case: CBI Searches 9 Locations, Including Premises Of Satya Pal Malik's Former Aide

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting searches in nine locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi in connection with the alleged insurance scam case. The CBI is also searching the premises of the then aide of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik.

Officials said that CBI teams started a search operation early this morning at the residence of the former aide of the ex-Governor and other locations. The agency move comes within a month of questioning Malik on April 28. 

Earlier, his statement was recorded in October last year after he concluded his gubernatorial responsibilities in Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, and Meghalaya.

The CBI registered two FIRs in connection with the corruption allegations levelled by Malik in the awarding of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees, and civil works worth Rs 2,200 crore related to the Kiru hydroelectric power project in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik's allegations

Malik had claimed he was offered a Rs 300-crore bribe for clearing two files during his tenure as the Jammu and Kashmir governor between August 23, 2018 and October 30, 2019.

In an explosive interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Malik had spoken of this deal and said that the RSS and BJP leader Ram Madhav paid the then Jammu and Kashmir governor a special visit to try and get him to pass the scheme proposed by Reliance Insurance but the latter cancelled it.

"I had initially passed this scheme but a lot of people asked me to take it back. The first thing that happened was that government employees were really unhappy with the coming of the scheme. That is because all government employees had to pay Rs 8,500 a year for the scheme. Retired officers had to give more than Rs 20,000," he said in the interview, according to the transcript.

(With inputs from PTI)