What happened to Satya Pal Malik’s tell-all book on J&K?

Following his retirement as Governor of Meghalaya in 2022, there was a recurring theme in the conversations Satya Pal Malik had with The Indian Express: the “explosive’’ content of the book he was penning on his tenure in J&K, which saw its special status taken away and got split into two Union Territories in August 2019.
Prior to his three-month-long hospitalisation, the 79-year-old former Governor had revealed that, as a precaution, he had moved the unfinished manuscript to an undisclosed location. Following his demise on Tuesday, one of his trusted aides told The Indian Express that the book was “almost done” but not yet finished. “ We cannot tell you where the manuscript is. All I can tell you is that much or most of the book has been written,” his aide said.
Earlier, when asked about what other revelations his book would contain, such as further details of security lapses in the 2019 Pulwama attack, Malik had said, “As far as Pulwama is concerned, it involves the lives of 40 of our soldiers. Air transport was denied to the troops and there has been no inquiry, no one has been held responsible…. all these details will be there in my book… Wait for the book, I cannot tell you everything now. But the book will be about governing J&K and about the Government’s lethargy.”
He had added, “What else will be revelatory will only be known when the book is out. If I say there is a book ready, they will raid me. But I am more than halfway through and many publishers are ready to publish it. Some episodes which will be discussed at length, for instance, there will be all details about the dissolution of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly in 2018…”
During his hospitalisation in 2024, too, Malik had spoken to The Indian Express about the yet-to-be published book and how he had moved its manuscript to a safer location. The book, he said, was tentatively titled, “The Truth about Kashmir”
“I had spoken about my tell-all book on Kashmir at a public rally and that is how people got to know about it. It was after that I realised that I should not keep the 200-page manuscript at home and the CBI raids (in February 2024) have proven me correct. There are many publishers in touch with me for the book,” he had said.