Anshu Attri
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steel ballsOne thing for sure Gen VK Singh has the Balls
![Hail :hail: :hail:](/styles/brivium/cobalt/smilies/hail.gif)
steel ballsOne thing for sure Gen VK Singh has the Balls
Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen
Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen - Indian Express
We are lucky to have a good guy like Gen VK Singh as Army chief who has been opposing corruption in Army. He may have to pay the price for his outspokenness though by the corrupt.What the hell, the owner of the Vectra trucks says that the Army Chief is speaking in behalf of Ural trucks and is cheating the people by saying that we are providing sub standard trucks and it is shame on his part. Here is a guy who is speaking ill about my country and my CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF and I being a citizen have no power to question the politicians and still they say that it is a Democracy. Is this what democracy means, I think it is demonocracy and we are being ruled by the demons.........
VK Singh bribe row: Congress fears probe may implicate Rajiv Gandhi
The Congress is in a tizzy over defence minister AK Antony's hurry to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into army chief VK Singh's allegations that he was offered a Rs14 crore bribe to clear the purchase of substandard Tatra trucks. The party fears that the probe may open a can of worms as the deal opting for Tatra trucks was signed in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister as well as defence minister. Businessman Rajiv Rishi who got the deal to purchase the high-technology Tatra trucks was believed to be a close friend of Gandhi.Congress leaders are upset that Antony has handed over the bribe allegation case to the CBI without even discussing the issue with party colleagues in the absence of prime minister (PM) Manmohan Singh. He scribbled his directive on the press clipping mentioning the bribery charge and asked the defence ministry to pass the matter to the CBI.
"There is a proper way of ordering a probe. He could have consulted his senior-most colleague Pranab Mukherjee to set the terms and references for the probe," a visibly upset senior minister told DNA.
In the absence of terms and references, the party fears that the CBI may dig up minute details of the deal and sully Rajiv Gandhi's name. The Bofors ghost continues to haunt the Congress to date and now, the CBI probe may end up naming Gandhi by probing Gen Singh's charge that substandard Tatra trucks were bought for exorbitant prices over the years. Though respected in the party for his integrity, Antony may now face the high command's ire for ordering a probe without examining its implications. "He may be saving himself from facing the wrath of the opposition, but he has made the first family of the ruling party vulnerable," Congress leaders told DNA.
Sources said Gen Singh's interview in a newspaper in which he made the bribery allegations enraged Antony so much that he called up the defence secretary from his Parliament house chamber itself and asked him to order a CBI probe. "He did not even call for the files to examine the deal," sources said.
Congress loyalists are working overtime to ensure the CBI limits its inquiry to the army chief's bribe allegations and that Rajiv Gandhi's name does not crop up in connection with the Tatra trucks deal.
Insiders, however, said the defence ministry letter has called for a "comprehensive probe" and therefore, the CBI will be forced to unearth details from the day the proposal to buy Tatra trucks was made. The probe may also cover how the supplies took place over the years and if any special favour was accorded to its manufacturer over and above the offers made by other competitors. Interestingly, the deal for Tatra trucks was made around the same time when the Bofors deal was inked.
Meanwhile, the government has decided not to touch Gen Singh unless he creates a new problem. Some members of the Congress and the opposition, particularly the JD(U), have sought the army chief's dismissal following Wednesday's DNA report about him having written a letter to the PM mentioning the army's lack of preparedness for war. The PM chaired a meeting on Wednesday and rejected demands to sack the army chief.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said such issues need not be debated in public. He, however, said Antony's statement declaring India's full preparedness to take on any eventuality was encouraging and answered all doubts raised by the army chief's leaked letter.
Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen
Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen - Indian Express
First, it was the offer of a Rs 14-crore bribe for the purchase of trucks that he attributed to his former colleague Lt General Tejinder Singh. Then he sent a letter to the Prime Minister on what he called were glaring gaps in the Army. Now Army Chief General V K Singh has lobbed yet another "corruption bomb," this time in the court of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
He has brought out a May 2011 letter he received from Trinamool MP Ambika Banerjee and asked the agency to probe the MP's complaint against Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag. Lt Gen Dalbir Singh is commanding the Dimapur-based 3 Corps and is in line — after Lt General Bikram Singh — to be the Army chief.
The forwarding of the MP's letter to the CBI is set to open up another can of worms. For, the MP has made a series of allegations of "procurement scams" in the "secret" Special Frontier Force — when Lt Gen Dalbir Singh was its Inspector General — including alleged payoffs for the purchase of night-vision devices, communication systems, weapons as well as parachutes.
The MP has also named Army officers, including a former Army Chief, who he has alleged received crores in kickbacks for defence procurements and amassed huge disproportionate assets. These issues, he said, have been raised by him in letters to the Government. Banerjee has also named agents who he claims dealt with these procurements.
The Army chief's latest "complaint'' reached the CBI headquarters yesterday, barely a day after a team from the agency visited the South Block office of the Army Chief to commence the probe into the bribery charges made by him. It arrived in the form of a covering letter signed by General V K Singh, requesting the CBI for a detailed inquiry into Banerjee's letter. The timing of the MP's two-page letter being sent by the Chief — just under a year after it was written to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister A K Antony — is significant given the fact that General Singh is known to be opposed to the appointment of Lt Gen Dalbir Singh as one of the Army Commanders while the Ministry of Defence is backing it.
In his letter, the Trinamool MP makes many allegations regarding procurement by the SFF when Lt General Dalbir Singh was its Inspector General. But the Army Chief has, in his covering note, claimed to the CBI that the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of a senior Army officer who was on deputation to the guerrilla force was downgraded by the IG — who was then Major General — when the officer did not "succumb'' to pressures of the cartel which wanted to sell parachutes to the force.
The Army Chief has not named this officer but has said that he received a representation from him. At the same time, the Chief has asked the CBI to inquire into the allegations of widespead corruption in procurements in the SFF and Army as listed by the MP.
When contacted by The Indian Express, Banerjee confirmed that he had written such a letter of complaint to the Defence Minister last year. He said: "I had received a response from the Ministry of Defence that the allegations would be inquired into but I have not heard from the Government ever since.''
The CBI is in the process of ascertaining what action can be taken and will evidently, ask the Ministry of Defence for an inspection of relevant files of procurement mentioned in the letter. With the SFF being categorized as a "secret'' force under administrative control of the Reserach and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the CBI may have to deal with the Cabinet Secretariat while asking for the documents of parchute purchases and the role of the Army officer in detecting the fraud.
Army Chief General VK Singh may be asked to go on leave till he retires: sources
New Delhi: The government may ask Army Chief General VK Singh to go on leave till May 31, the day he retires as it triple to tide over the crisis precipitated by the General levelling bribery allegations against serving as well as retired Army officers and writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mentioning that the Army was ill-equipped to fight a war and defeat the enemy. Sources say both the government and the Opposition are against sacking General VK Singh and he may, therefore, be asked to go on leave till he retires.
The Intelligence Bureau has begun a probe into the leak of the Army Chief's letter to the Prime Minister. IB Director Nehchal Sandhu also met General Singh on Thursday. The letter written by General Singh claims shortcomings in defence preparedness within the armed forces.
Reacting to the leak of his letter to the Prime Minister, General Singh said, "This is an outrage, official communication with the PM or anybody for that matter with the Chief of staff is privileged information. I have nothing to do with the leak. The leaking of the letter should be treated as high treason, this cynical approach to tar my reputation has to be stopped. The source of leak has to be found and dealt with ruthlessly."
General VK Singh has come under attack for the various revelations and claims in the past few days. The political class is divided over the Army Chief. Some leaders have even called for the Army Chief to be sacked.
Congress MP Harshvardhan Singh wrote to Defence Minister AK Antony demanding the sacking of Army Chief General VK Singh. "General Singh is doing all this after Supreme Court snubbed him on age row. It seems he is planning to join politics," Harshvardhan Singh said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad also alleged that General Singh was preparing for a political role after retiring from the Army. "The Army Chief is frustrated. He wants to contest elections," said Lalu.
Indian Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi even called General Singh a frustrated man. "He did not get an extension even from the court so it may be a frustrated mind's utterance," said Ravi while referring to the age row case in the Supreme Court where the General was forced to accept his date of birth as May 10, 1950 in the official records instead of May 10, 1951 as he had been claiming.
However, BJP leader and former Jaswant Singh slammed Defence Minister AK Antony over the Army Chief row and said he was opposed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing Army officers. "I am in principle opposed to the idea of the CBI investigating officers of the armed forces," he said speaking to CNN-IBN.
Slamming the Defence Minister for lack of action, he said, "The Defence Minister didn't rise to the occasion. The Defence Minister who doesn't hold his head in his hands on such issues. He should have taken an appropriate action with or without a written complaint."
Defending the Army Chief, Jaswant Singh said, "It is well within the duty and function of the Army chief to cancel the order. Investigating the offer of the bribe is part of the Army act. He can't go to the police and file an FIR. He has to report this to his superior who happens to be the Defence Minister."
Speaking on the letter written by the Army Chief to the Prime Minister claiming shortcomings in defence preparedness within the armed forces, Jaswant Singh said, "Such communication between an Army Chief on security is routine. Every month during the NDA regime the Army Chief used to write a letter to the Prime Minister and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to do monthly meetings. There is nothing out of order here."
A letter written by the Army Chief to the Prime Minister's Office claiming shortcomings in defence preparedness within the armed forces got leaked on Wednesday.
General VK Singh also sent a letter written by Trinamool MP Ambika Banerjee, which calls for a probe against Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag, to the CBI. He also claimed to have been offered bribe for clearing sub-standard vehicles for the Army.
Good job Ambika Banerjee of TMC.Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen
Army Chief drops another bribery bomb, asks CBI to probe top Lt Gen - Indian Express
He has brought out a May 2011 letter he received from Trinamool MP Ambika Banerjee and asked the agency to probe the MP's complaint against Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag. Lt Gen Dalbir Singh is commanding the Dimapur-based 3 Corps and is in line — after Lt General Bikram Singh — to be the Army chief.[/U][/B][/COLOR]