ED attaches property worth Rs 36.57 cr in J&K health insurance scam involving Reliance

Srinagar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties valued at Rs 36.57 crore in an alleged insurance scam involving Reliance, targeting government employees in Jammu and Kashmir.

In an FIR, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) implicated Reliance General Insurance and Trinity Reinsurance Brokers in the purported scam related to the implementation of a medical insurance scheme for J&K government employees and their families.

Former Governor Satya Pal Malik annulled the contract with Reliance, owned by industrialist Anil Ambani, in 2018, citing fraud and 'erroneous' execution across the erstwhile state.

Malik had also claimed that the tenders for the policy were opened ‘secretly on a holiday to suit a particular company.’ In October 2021, Malik alleged that he was offered Rs 300 crore in bribes to clear two files.

While he didn’t specify what files those were, one of these pertained to the government’s deal with Reliance General Insurance for providing health insurance to government employees. Five months after Malik’s claims, J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha said that his administration had decided to hand over the Reliance Insurance and the Kiru Hydel cases to the CBI.

The agency registered two cases, leading to searches at 14 locations and charges against Reliance General Insurance Company (RGIC) and officials of Chenab Valley Power Projects Pvt Ltd (CVPPPL).

The ED also initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against M/s Trinity Reinsurance Brokers Limited, M/s Reliance General Insurance Company Limited and unknown public servants and private persons.

The ED investigation has revealed that J&K Finance Department deliberately awarded the tender for the engagement of an intermediary (i.e Insurance broker) for designing, floating the tender for and implementing the said scheme by dubious or questionable selection/ short listing process without holding the essential eligibility criteria.

“The ED attached land worth Rs 4.04 crore in the name M/s Globus Trade Links Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of M/s TRBL and FDRs to the extent of value of Rs 32.53 crore, pertaining to M/s Reliance General Insurance Pvt. Ltd,” an official said.