SHIMLA — The Himalayan Janjatiya Lok Adhikar Mahasangh has turned the heat on Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary K.K. Pant, demanding that the State Government stop sitting on the Centre’s request for consent to allow a wider CBI investigation into alleged corruption in the Pekhubela Solar Power Project.
At an emergency meeting of the Mahasangh in Shimla on September 30 here, representatives from Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti, Shimla and Solan districts reviewed the progress of the CBI investigation into the death of former Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) General Manager Vimal Negi.
The meeting was chaired by vice-president Santosh Negi, while general secretary Bhagat Singh Kinner coordinated the proceedings.
The Mahasangh demanded that the CBI now invoke relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and conduct a full-fledged investigation into the alleged financial and procedural irregularities surrounding the Pekhubela project.
The demand comes after the CBI’s investigation into Negi’s death brought the controversial solar project directly into the case. In its chargesheet, the agency has alleged manipulation of project records and an undue benefit of around ₹13 crore to the contractor despite the project remaining incomplete.
The CBI has also alleged that senior HPPCL officials bypassed procedures and pressured subordinate officers in project-related decisions.
The Mahasangh’s latest attack, however, is aimed at what it calls the State Government’s refusal to move on the Centre’s request for consent giving justice to Vimal Negi’s wife Kiran Negi and his family and relatives even after more 19 months.
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training, had on July 6, 2026 forwarded the complaint submitted by Mahasangh president R.S. Negi to the Himachal Chief Secretary.
The communication pointed out that prior consent of the State Government is required before a case can be entrusted to the CBI under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, and asked the State Government to take appropriate action.
The Mahasangh has now questioned why that request has not translated into a decision.
The issue is particularly sensitive because the Pekhubela project lies at the centre of the controversy surrounding Vimal Negi, whose disappearance from Shimla and subsequent death triggered a prolonged battle over the credibility and scope of the investigation.
Negi went missing from his HPPCL office on March 10, 2025, and his body was recovered from the Gobind Sagar reservoir near Bhakra Dam in Bilaspur district on March 18. The Himachal Pradesh High Court subsequently transferred the death investigation to the CBI in May 2025.
The CBI investigation has since moved beyond the circumstances of Negi’s death to alleged irregularities in the Pekhubela project.
According to the agency’s case, payments and project-related approvals were allegedly pushed through despite incomplete work, while objections raised by technical officers were allegedly overridden.
The three top officials of HPPCL Herikesh Meena, Des Raj and S Karan Singh still are in CBI investigation orbit though they have shifted out, sources said.
The Mahasangh now wants the corruption trail pursued independently and comprehensively rather than remaining confined to the allegations already incorporated into the Negi death case.
Its contention is that if the CBI has uncovered evidence pointing towards alleged misuse of official position and financial irregularities, the investigation should logically examine the entire chain of decisions, officials and beneficiaries associated with the project.
The controversy also puts the spotlight on the role of the Chief Secretary’s office. K.K. Pant was given additional charge of Chief Secretary in June 2026 after the retirement of Sanjay Gupta.
The Mahasangh has accused Pant of maintaining an indifferent attitude towards the Centre’s request and has demanded that the State Government take a clear decision on granting consent.
The demand comes weeks after the Mahasangh had publicly warned that it could approach the Himachal Pradesh High Court if the government failed to act on its demand for a CBI probe into the alleged corruption in the Pekhubela project.
For the tribal organisation, the issue is no longer confined to the mysterious death of one HPPCL officer.
It says the larger question is whether allegations of corruption involving a major public-sector power project will receive an independent and complete investigation.
The CBI chargesheet has already put alleged project irregularities on record before the Special CBI Court. The unanswered question now, the Mahasangh says, is why the State Government should hesitate to give the agency the wider jurisdiction it has sought.
The Mahasangh has demanded that the investigation cover the alleged financial irregularities, decisions relating to project execution and payments, manipulation of records, pressure allegedly exerted on officials, and the role of all persons involved in the decision-making chain.
The organisation has made it clear that it intends to keep pursuing the matter until the alleged corruption in the Pekhubela project and the circumstances surrounding Vimal Negi’s death are fully investigated.
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