New Delhi: Known for his outspoken and bold views, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik has minced no words in saying that the central government will be responsible if anything happens to him, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said after the Union Home Ministry’s decision to withdraw the Z-plus security cover that had been provided to him.
Malik said he had learnt that he will no longer have the protection of elite commandos under the Z-plus bracket, which is among the best shields of security a leader in India can have.
Malik was the governor when the Centre revoked the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
"PSO has not turned up for past three days"
“I have just been given a PSO (personal security officer), who has not turned up for the past three days. Anyone can attack me. I am a sitting duck,” Malik told a leading TV news channel.
“All previous governors of Jammu and Kashmir have good security cover. If anything happens to me, the central government will be responsible,” he said.
Malik has had run-ins with the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre over several issues, most prominently because of his support to farmers during the year-long protest against laws that were sought to be brought and also because of his allegations that he was offered a ₹300 crore bribe for clearing two files in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) “examined” Malik in October last year to get a clearer picture of his allegations.
Malik had alleged corruption in awarding the contract for a group medical insurance scheme for government employees and also for civil work worth ₹2,200 crore with regard to the Kiru hydroelectric power project in Jammu and Kashmir.
The CBI had, in its first information report (FIR), named Reliance General Insurance and Trinity Re-Insurance Brokers as the accused. In the second case, the CBI is looking into alleged violation of rules for e-tenders.
Malik was appointed governor of Bihar in 2017. He then became the governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 2018, Goa in 2019 and Meghalaya in 2020. His five-year tenure as governor, though in different states, ended in October last year.
