The CBI has filed a chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik and five others in connection with alleged corruption in the award of civil works worth ₹2,200 crore for the Kiru hydropower project, sources said on Thursday.

Malik, who served as Jammu and Kashmir governor between August 23, 2018, and October 30, 2019, was the “whistleblower and complainant” in the case.

He has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the Pahalgam terror attack, Malik demanded an apology from Modi. “He is besharam (shameless), darpok (coward) and must apologise to the country for the Pahalgam attack,” Malik said in an interview to the Wire.

In April 2023, the CBI had summoned Malik in the graft case days after he said Modi had silenced him when, hours after the 2019 Pulwama massacre, he had blamed the Centre’s “lapses” for the tragedy.

Malik had said: “I have exposed the sins of some people by speaking the truth. Maybe that’s why the summons has come. I am the son of a farmer; I will not panic. I stand by
the truth.”

A CBI official on Thursday said: “After three years of probe, the agency has filed a chargesheet before a Delhi court in connection with the Kiru hydel project. Malik
and five others, including Jammu and Kashmir government officials, have been named as accused.”

“The case pertains to the alleged malpractices in the award of the ₹2,200-crore contract for civil works of the Kiru hydroelectric power project to a private company in 2019,” he said.

The official, however, declined to comment when asked why Malik was named as an accused as the allegation of graft was levelled by him.

In a post on X on Thursday, Malik said he was receiving treatment at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi. “I am getting a lot of calls from my well-wishers which I am unable to take…. I am very unwell and not in a position to talk.”

Malik had in November 2021 alleged that he had been offered a bribe of ₹300 crore to clear two files when he was the Jammu and Kashmir governor. A year later, the CBI registered two FIRs in connection with the corruption allegations levelled by Malik over the award of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees and for civil works related to the Kiru project.