The past has come to haunt Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag. The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to him, the Defence Ministry and the CBI on a petition demanding a probe by the investigating agency into an alleged dacoity involving Armymen of Assam-based 3 Corps, headed by Suhag, in December 2011.
The Bench of Justices Hl Dattu and SA Bobde issued notice on a petition by Renu Gogoi, who had lodged the complaint against the Army and its officials of 3 Corps. It was over this incident that Suhag was issued a disciplinary vigilance ban by former Army Chief VK Singh. The ban remained a thorn in his flesh for his selection to the top post till the SC finally gave the green signal after it found that the ban was revoked by General Bikram Singh, who succeeded Singh.
The petitioner claimed that since the incident that occurred on December 20, 2011, the police was yet to file a chargesheet. The Army, on the other hand, constituted a Commission of Inquiry and held fault with junior level officers letting them off with either reprimand, or a maximum of 14 days rigorous imprisonment in military custody.
According to the petition, on the night of the incident, a group of over 10 Armymen wearing masks and fully armed entered the house of the petitioner and tied her and her children. The complaint alleged that the locks of almirah were forcibly broken and the men in uniform decamped with Rs 1.5 lakh cash, gold ornaments worth Rs 6.5 lakh, a laptop, a .32 bore pistol and mobile phones.
The Army claimed that the husband of the petitioner operated for the banned organisation United liberation Front of Assam (UlFA). The petitioner claimed that being the Corps Commander, Suhag was also the Head of the Intelligence Gathering and the command and control of operations of Corps that made it uncertain to assume that he had no knowledge of the incident.