The CBI on Friday questioned former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik for nearly five hours in connection with its probe into the alleged insurance scam in the Union Territory which came to light after his statement that he was offered bribes to clear related files.

A CBI team arrived at the Som Vihar residence of Malik in the RK Puram area here at around 11.45 A.M. to seek clarifications over his claims, officials said.

The questioning session lasted for nearly five hours during which several questions were posed to him about the claims made in his statements recorded with the agency last year, they said, clarifying that Malik is neither an accused nor a suspect in the case. This is the second time in seven months that Malik, who served as Governor of various States, was quizzed by the agency.

In October, his statement was recorded after he concluded his tenure has Governor of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, and Meghalaya.

After the latest CBI notice to seek clarifications from him, Malik had tweeted, “I have exposed the sins of some people by speaking the truth. Maybe that’s why I have been called. I am the son of a farmer, I will not panic. I stand by the truth.”

The CBI has registered two FIRs in connection with the corruption allegations levelled by Malik in awarding contracts for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees and civil work worth Rs 2,200 crore related to the Kiru hydroelectric power project in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malik had claimed that he was offered a Rs 300 crore bribe for clearing two files during his tenure as the Jammu and Kashmir governor between August 23, 2018, and October 30, 2019.

The agency has booked Reliance General Insurance and Trinity Re-Insurance Brokers Limited as accused in its FIR related to the medical insurance scheme for Jammu and Kashmir government employees reportedly cleared by Malik at a State administrative council meeting on August 31, 2018. The scheme was subsequently scrapped.

Unknown officials of the Finance Department of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, by abusing their official positions in a conspiracy and connivance with Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Limited, Reliance General Insurance Company Limited and other unknown public servants and private persons, have committed the offences of criminal conspiracy and criminal misconduct,” according to the allegations recorded in one of the FIRs.

They caused “pecuniary advantage to themselves and wrongful loss to the State exchequer during the period 2017 and 2018 and thereby, in this manner, cheated the government of Jammu and Kashmir”, it further alleged.

In the second FIR regarding alleged malpractices in the award of contracts for the civil work package of the Kiru hydroelectric power project, the CBI alleged that the guidelines related to e-tendering were not followed.

“The case was registered on allegations of malpractices in the award of the contract worth Rs 2,200 crore (approximately) of civil works of the Kiru Hydro Electric Power Project (HEP) to a private company in the year 2019,” it has said.