The Central Bureau of Investigation on May 17 searched 12 locations in Delhi and Rajasthan in connection with a case alleging corruption in the award of ₹2,200 crore civil works related to the Kiru hydro-electric power project in Jammu and Kashmir.
During the searches, 10 locations in Delhi and two in Rajasthan were covered. “In Delhi, the premises of one Saunak Bali, three chartered accountants, Sanjay Narang, Virender Singh Rana and Kanwar Singh Rana, besides one Anita, were searched. At two places in Rajasthan, the premises searched were linked to Priyanka Chowdhary,” said an agency official.
In July 2022, the agency had conducted searches in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Jammu and Srinagar, against the associates of the main accused persons, middlemen and others. The premises of one chartered accountant, Rakesh Gupta, Rupen Patel of Patel Engineering Limited (Mumbai), and its three employees were also searched.
In the First Information Report registered on April 20 last year, among those named as accused are Navin Kumar Choudhary, an Indian Administrative Service official, as the then chairman of Chenab Valley Power Projects (P) Limited (CVPPPL); its then managing director M.S. Babu, directors M.K. Mittal and Arun Kumar Mishra and Patel Engineering.
The investigation has been launched on a reference from the J&K government with respect to the charge that e-tendering guidelines were not followed despite the CVPPPL Board’s decision, and the contract was awarded to Patel Engineering in 2019.
