CBI is conducting searches at 16 locations in connection with the alleged graft flagged by former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in awarding contract for civil work for the Kishtwar-based Kiru Hydro Power Project Limited in 2019, officials said Wednesday.

The search operations are spread across two places in Srinagar, five in Jammu, five in Delhi, three in Mumbai and one in Patna at the premises of middlemen and associates involved in the project, they said.

During the probe, the CBI has detected some financial transactions between the accused public servants, including the then Chairman Chenab Valley Power Projects (P) Ltd Navin Kumar Chaudhary, officials said.

The agency is conducting searches at the premises of Rupen Patel, Chairman and Managing Director of Patel Engineering Ltd in Mumbai, Vijay Gupta and Amrendra Kumar Singh among others, officials added.