CBI to probe former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik’s '300 crore bribe offer' claim

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday initiated a probe into the allegations of Satya Pal Malik, former J&K governor, claiming that he was offered a bribe of Rs 300 crores to clear two files when he was in office.

“Two files had come for my consideration. One of the secretaries told me that if I approve these, I can get Rs 150 crores for each. I turned down the offer saying that I had brought five kurta pyjamas to Kashmir and will just go back with them,” Malik had stated on October 17, last year at a function in Rajasthan.

Malik, who is now the Governor of Meghalaya, said he had cancelled both the deals. "I am ready for probe. I am neat and clean,” he had said.

“One of my secretaries had told me that I can get Rs 150 crores each in both the deals, but I sought time fand apprised PM of the scam. I straight away told PM Modi that I am ready to leave the post, but I will clear the files. I must appreciate PM because he told me not to compromise on corruption. Corruption was rampant in Kashmir where the commission was 15% as compared to 5% in other parts of the country. But I am happy that no big corruption took place during my tenure,” he added.

When Malik was the governor of J&K in October 2018, he had scrapped the Group Medical Insurance contract for government employees awarded to Reliance General Insurance Company. He claimed the contract was “full of fraud”.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has recommended a CBI probe into the allegations levelled by the former governor. “The CBI inquiry would make everything crystal clear,” said incumbent L-G Manoj Sinha.

“We (the administration) thought over the bribery allegations levelled by former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik. We've written to the CBI to investigate the matter. If people of high rank have levelled such allegations, then it needs to be probed,” Sinha told reporters in Jammu.

Satya Pal Malik & BJP

Malik was dogged with controversies since 2018 when he dissolved the Jammu-Kashmir assembly citing extensive horse-trading, the impossibility of forming a stable government after BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti government. Later, he oversaw the bifurcation of J&K and the revocation of Article 370.

But he was transferred to Goa as the Governor, while Girish Chandra Murmu took his place. In Goa too, Malik ran into trouble after criticizing the Pramod Sawant govt and was transferred to Meghalaya as Governor on 18 August 2020.