The CBI on Wednesday conducted raids at 12 locations, including the premises of a former aide of ex-Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik, in Delhi and Rajasthan as part of its probe into an alleged case of corruption, weeks after questioning Malik.

The CBI had questioned Malik on April 28 for five hours about an alleged medical insurance scam in Jammu and Kashmir which had come to light after he said he had been offered bribes to clear the files when he was governor.

On April 14 in an interview with The Wire news portal, Malik had raised several grave questions about the Pulwama terror attack and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s purported response on the same evening. He said that when he had, as the then Jammu and Kashmir governor, blamed the 2019 Pulwama massacre on the Centre’s own lapses, Modi had told him “tum abhi chup raho (you keep quiet now)”.

Sources in the CBI on Wednesday said the raids were conducted at 10 locations in Delhi and two in Rajasthan in the alleged insurance scam. “The raids and search operations started on Wednesday morning at the residence of Malik’s aide when he was Jammu and Kashmir governor, Saunak Bali, besides five chartered accountants,” an agency official said.

Sources said Malik had in November 2021 alleged that he had been offered a bribe of Rs 300 crore to clear two files when he was Jammu and Kashmir governor between August 23, 2018, and October 30, 2019. He had named an RSS leader.

In April last year, the agency had registered two FIRs over the corruption allegations levelled by Malik. “In the first FIR, the agency booked Anil Ambani’s Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd and Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Limited over the alleged scam in the awarding of contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees,” a CBI official said.

Malik had cancelled the deal in October 2018, the official said, adding that the agency had registered another FIR on corruption allegations in civil projects worth Rs 2,200 crore related to the Kiru Hydel Power Project in Jammu and Kashmir.

Modi tour tweaked after Biden cancellation

A day after announcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-nation tour to Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia next week, the external affairs ministry on Wednesday had to rework his schedule after US President Joe Biden cancelled his visit to Sydney for the Quad summit owing to the deadlock in Washington over debt ceiling.

Though there has beenno official word from the external affairs ministry since Biden cancelled his Australia visit — forcing the cancellation of next week’s Quad summit — indications are that Modi will continue with his two-day visit to Sydney.

Modi is scheduled to participate in a community event, take part in a bilateral engagement with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese and meet the business community.