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New Delhi: Lt Gen (retd)
Tejinder Singh Tuesday filed a criminal defamation case against
army chief Gen V.K. Singh in a Delhi court following allegations
of bribery over a defence deal against him.
The retired army officer has also named four other senior officers
in the case. The matter will come up in the Patiala House court
March 29.
Tejinder Singh, who retired in 2010 from the post of director
general of Defence Intelligence Agency, asked the court to summon
and initiate proceedings against the army chief and others for
making the libellous statement in media.
Sending shockwaves through the defence establishment, the army
chief disclosed in media that he was offered a kickback of Rs.14
crore by a retired defence officer in exchange for clearing a
tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles and he had immediately
informed Defence Minister A.K. Antony about it.
The defence minister Tuesday told parliament that the army chief
had told him about Lt Gen Tejinder Singh offering him a bribe.
The retired Lt Gen in his defamation case said: "The statement and
allegation against the complainant (Lt Gen Tejinder Singh) are
entirely baseless, false and cococted."
Denying all the allegations, Tejinder Singh said that in the press
release of March 5 Army HQ publicly accused him and a group of
serving officers of the Military Intelligence (MI) of conspiring
to create a rift between Army chief General V.K. Singh and the
government.
On the anonymous complaint that officers close to Gen Singh tried
to listen in to calls of the defence ministry's top brass as well
as senior generals, the Army HQ said the "fabricated fiction" was
put out by a group of disgruntled serving officers of MI working
in connivance with a retired Lt General, who was a head of Defence
Intelligence Agency.
The Army HQ had listed the charges against the Lt Gen, alleging
that he was an allottee in Mumbai's Adarsh Housing Society. The HQ
said that the retired Lt Gen offered bribes on behalf of a leading
foreign automobile maker that supplies vehicles to the Army.
On the allegations about Adarsh Housing Society, the retd Lt Gen
said that he is a mere allottee of a flat in Adarsh Housing
Society. He further stated that he has no connection with the
management of the society and till date there is no official
allegation or any inquiry has been made in any scam, and the
scandal relating to the society as is being wrongly suggested in
the press release.
"The impugned statement is not only defamatory in its natural
meaning but also contains imputation and insinuation that the
complainant is involved in corrupt practices and illegal
activities," said Tejinder Singh through his petition, saying that
false allegations and imputation have been made when no case or
inquiry has been initiated or pending against him.
"Because of the false, unfounded and libellous statement and
illegal act in past and present by the accused persons not only
the complainant's reputation and honour has been lowered/ harmed
but he is being held up to ridicule in his business, fraternity,
acquaintances and family alike, leading others to avoid and shun
him."
Complaining that he has suffered huge social and civil humiliation
because of the allegation, the retd Lt Gen said he has been caused
immense incalculable loss and damage to his reputation and loss of
business opportunities in present and in future.
Lt. Gen. Singh also said that "misusing and abusing the office of
the Army chief presently held by V.K. Singh, brings disrepute not
only to the complainant but is also tarnishing and harming the
image of the Army".
Accusing that the officers misused their official position, power
and authority to level false charges against him, the retired Lt
General in his complaint has also named S.K. Singh (Vice-Chief of
Army staff), Lt Gen B.S. Thakur (DGMI), Major General S.L.
Narshiman (Additional Director General of Public Information) and
Lt Col Hitten Sawhney (GSO-I Directorate General of Public
Information).
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