CBI Charges Satya Pal Malik in ₹2,200-Crore Kiru Hydroelectric Project Bribery Case

Former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik has been named in a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly receiving bribes routed through two close aides in connection with the awarding of a ₹2,200-crore civil contract for the Kiru Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab River in Kishtwar. The CBI, after a three-year-long investigation, has reportedly established a money trail leading to Malik’s aides—Virendra Rana and Kanwar Singh Rana—who allegedly received kickbacks from Patel Engineering Ltd for influencing the contract award. Malik, who held the gubernatorial post in J&K from August 2018 to October 2019, had in October 2021 claimed that he was offered a ₹300-crore bribe to clear two files, including one related to the Kiru project. However, in his defense, Malik stated that he had informed the Prime Minister about the corruption, cancelled the tender himself, and that it was later approved after his transfer. The charge sheet, filed last month in a special court in Jammu, also names other accused including former CVPPPL managing director MS Babu, directors Arun Kumar Mishra and MK Mittal, Patel Engineering’s managing director Rupen Patel, and Kanwaljeet Singh Duggal. The court is yet to take cognizance of the charge sheet. The CBI has invoked Sections 120-B of the Jammu and Kashmir Ranbir Penal Code and the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, both applicable prior to the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. Officials clarified that no prior sanction was required for prosecuting Malik under these laws. Malik, currently undergoing treatment for a kidney-related ailment and admitted to an ICU, has not commented beyond what he already posted on X, reiterating that the tender process in question was cancelled by him. Initially, he was not named in the FIR registered in April 2022, but his alleged role emerged during the course of the investigation. A BJP member, Malik has become a vocal critic of the NDA government in recent years, particularly over the handling of the 2020-21 farmers’ protests and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack.