New Delhi, Dec 2: In relation to the purported graft brought to light by former governor of Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik in the course of awarding the contract for the Rs 2,200-crore civil work for the Kiru Hydro Power Project in Kishtwar in 2019, the CBI is reportedly conducting searches at six locations across four cities, officials said on Saturday. According to them, there have been three separate places where searches have taken place, including the homes of D P Singh and Kanwaljeet Singh Duggal of Mainstream IT Solutions Private Limited. The operation is covering three of the company’s and Duggal’s locations in Delhi, as well as one each in Shimla, Noida, and Chandigarh, according to the officials.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) revealed that this is the fourth wave of searches in the case; they had previously conducted similar operations on April 21, July 6, and May 17 of this year. In August 23, 2018, Malik, who held the office of governor of Jammu and Kashmir until October 30, 2019, claimed to have received an offer of Rs 300 crore in exchange for clearing two files, one of which was related to the project. “The case was filed on charges of wrongdoing in the contract awarding Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project (HEP) civil works worth about Rs 2,200 crore to a private company in 2019,” the CBI had previously stated.The agency has made reservations for former officials M S Babu, M K Mittal, Arun Kumar Mishra, and Patel Engineering Limited, as well as former chairman of Chenab Valley Power Projects (Private) Limited Navin Kumar Chaudhary. Chaudhary is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the Jammu and Kashmir cadre (now the AGMUT cadre), having joined in 1994. “Even though the 47th board meeting of Chenab Valley Power Projects (P) Ltd) decided to cancel the ongoing tendering process and re-tender through e-tendering with reverse auction, the 48th board meeting decided to do the same thing, and Patel Engineering Limited was ultimately awarded the tender,” the FIR claims.
