A week after Pulwama interview, CBI calls Satya Pal Malik in insurance scam case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik to answer certain queries in connection with an alleged insurance scam in the Union Territory, officials said on Friday.

Reacting to the development, Malik told PTI that the CBI has asked for his presence at the agency’s Akbar Road guesthouse in new Delhi for “certain clarifications”.

‘CBI wants clarifications’

“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,” Malik said.

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The CBI had examined him in connection with the alleged scam last year.

In April last year, the CBI had lodged two FIRs over corruption allegations levelled by Malik in the awarding of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees to Reliance General Insurance and civil work worth Rs 2,200 crore related to the Kiru hydroelectric power project in Jammu and Kashmir.

Cancelled insurance scheme

Malik had cancelled the contract by the company owned by industrialist Anil Ambani in 2018 when he was the Governor of J&K. In a first information report (FIR), the CBI named Reliance General Insurance along with Trinity Reinsurance Brokers as accused in the alleged scam in rolling out a medical insurance scheme for Jammu and Kashmir government employees and their families.

Malik had cancelled the scheme within a month of its roll out in September 2018, alleging fraud. The CBI took over the case then.

Also read: Satya Pal Malik examined by CBI in corruption cases in J&K

“I myself went through files, and when I came to the conclusion that the contract was awarded wrongly, I cancelled it,” Malik had said.

Malik has been in centre of a political storm since last week when he claimed in an interview to news website The Wire that security lapses led to the Pulwama attack in 2019 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed. He said a request by the paramilitary force asking for an aircraft to commute was denied by the government, which in turn led to the soldiers travelling by road.

(With Agency inputs)