New Delhi: Former J&K governor Satyapal Malik on Saturday (June 7) alleged that the Union government was trying to implicate him in false cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In a post on X, Malik said, “The tender they want to implicate me in was one I personally cancelled. I had informed the prime minister about the corruption in that matter, and after informing him, I cancelled that tender myself. After my transfer, that tender was approved with someone else’s signature.”

Malik, who has openly criticised the Modi-led Union government and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of corruption on several occasions, said that he had been offered bribes of Rs 150 crore when he was governor. The former governor is currently admitted in the Intensive Unit Care (ICU) of a hospital for a kidney-related ailment.

“My condition is becoming very serious. Whether I survive or not, I want to tell the truth to my fellow countrymen — When I was Governor, I was offered bribes of ₹150 to ₹150 crore, but like my political mentor, the late farmer leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, I worked with honesty, and my integrity could never be shaken,” Malik said.

The case Malik referred to in his post on X dates back to April 2022 when the CBI registered a case related to funds allotted for work under the Kiru Hydroelectric Project. The case, pertaining to the allocation of Rs 2,200 crore, was registered by the central investigation agency on a reference from the J&K government. 

The FIR alleged that Chenab Valley Power Project (P) Limited (CVPPPL), at its 47th board meeting, had called for the cancellation of the ongoing tendering process and reallocation of work through e-tenders with reverse auction. 

The FIR goes on to allege that in the next board meeting held by CCVPPL, this decision was reversed and the contract was awarded to Patel Engineering in 2019.

In a chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case last month, Malik, who was the governor of J&K from August 2018-October 2019, and seven others have been implicated.

These names include the then managing director of CVPPL, M.S. Babu, and directors M.K. Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra, managing director of Patel Engineering Limited, Rupen Patel (deceased) among others.

“The government has put all its strength into defaming me. In the end, my request to the government and its agencies is to please tell the truth to the beloved people of my country — what did you find against me in your investigations? The truth, however, is that after serving the nation in very high positions for over 50 years in my political life, I still live in a single-room house and am in debt. If I had wealth today, I would be getting treatment in a private hospital,” Malik said.

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