File Picture
The CBI conducted searches at the premises of former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik and 29 other locations on Thursday in connection with alleged corruption in the Rs 2,200-crore Kiru Hydropower project, officials said.
The federal agency started its operation in the morning, with around 100 officers mobilised to swoop down at the 30 locations in multiple cities of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, besides Delhi and Mumbai, the officials said.
Premises linked to Malik at R K Puram, Dwarka and Asian Games Village in Delhi, besides those in Gurugram and Baghpat, were searched, they added.
Malik, a former BJP leader, has been criticising the Narendra Modi government over several issues. He had also alleged that the Modi government fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on bodies of our soldiers and claimed he was asked to keep quiet when he sought investigation into the Pulwama attack.
He had also attacked the Modi government over the recent killing of a protesting farmer at Khanauri border in Punjab during their ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march.
Reacting to the raids, Malik said he is not scared of these raids and will continue to stand with the farmers of the country.
“I have been ill for the last 3-4 days and am admitted to the hospital. Despite this, my house is being raided by the dictator through government agencies. My driver and my assistant are also being raided and harassed unnecessarily. I am a farmer’s son, I will not be afraid of these raids. I am with the farmers,” Malik wrote on ‘X’.
पिछले 3-4 दिनों से मैं बिमार हूं ओर हस्पताल में भर्ती हूं। जिसके वावजूद मेरे मकान में तानाशाह द्वारा सरकारी एजेंसियों से छापे डलवाएं जा रहें हैं। मेरे ड्राईवर, मेरे साहयक के ऊपर भी छापे मारकर उनको बेवजह परेशान किया जा रहा है।
में किसान का बेटा हूं, इन छापों से घबराऊंगा नहीं। में…— Satyapal Malik 🇮🇳 (@SatyapalmalikG) February 22, 2024
