A team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reached the Delhi residence of former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik in connection with an alleged insurance scam in the Union Territory. Satyapal Malik was earlier summoned by the CBI in connection with an alleged corruption case by industrialist Anil Ambani's Reliance General Insurance. "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," news agency PTI quoted Satyapal Malik as saying.
In April last year, the CBI had lodged two FIRs over corruption allegations levelled by Satyapal Malik in the awarding of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees and civil work worth Rs 2,200 crore related to the Kiru hydroelectric power project in Jammu and Kashmir, PTI reported.
According to the report, Malik had cancelled a contract by the company when he was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
In an FIR, the probe agency named Reliance General Insurance along with Trinity Reinsurance Brokers as accused in the alleged scam in rolling out a medical insurance scheme for the Jammu and Kashmir government employees and their families.
The scheme, covering around 3.5 lakh employees, was rolled out in September 2018 and it was cancelled within a month by Malik.
It is to be noted that Satyapal Malik, in a recent interview to a news portal, had alleged that there were lapses in security protocol that led to the February 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
The former governor also claimed that a request by the paramilitary troops asking for an aircraft to commute was denied by the government, which in turn led to the jawans travelling by road.
In the interview, that stoked a political controversy, he also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "ill-informed" about the Jammu and Kashmir region.