Former Army chief General VK Singh on Friday alleged political vendetta following media reports that he had misused secret funds during his tenure as Army Chief to topple the Jammu & Kashmir Government and that Technical Services Division (TSD) of Military Intelligence was used for unauthorised operations.
A political slugfest also broke out after the news report, with the BJP questioning the timing of the report and claiming that Singh was targeted and “hounded” for sharing the dais with Narendra Modi during an ex-servicemen rally in Rewari last week. Congress, however, denied the charge. Reacting to media reports about misuse of funds by Singh, the Defence Ministry said on Friday it has not taken any decision for a CBI enquiry into the issues raised in the Army’s report. Sources indicated that the Government is unlikely to order a CBI probe as it would lead to examining Intelligence operations, which by nature are secret. Moreover, a probe would open a Pandora’s Box and affect the functioning of Intelligence agencies including the Military Intelligence, they said.
The present controversy was triggered after reports that a Board of Officers headed by Director-General Military Operations lieutenant-General VK Bhatia had asked the Defence Ministry to seek a CBI probe into the allegations of misuse of funds by TSD during Singh’s tenure. Bhatia was asked to look into the allegations in August last year and he submitted the report to the Defence Ministry in March this year.
In a statement the Defence Ministry said it had “received a report from the Army Headquarters on certain issues relating to one of its outfits as reported by a section of the media. The report impinges on matters of national security and as such the Government will take a decision and further actions after a careful examination of the report. The Government has in place measures to prevent any such undesirable activities.”
Sources said the Defence Ministry would prefer an internal mechanism to deal with the matter and has reportedly asked the Army why it did not taken action on its report if any officer violated the law. The Army did not need the Defence Ministry’s sanction to act against allegedly errant officers, they said. Media reports claimed that the Army's enquiry said Rs 1.19 crores were given to Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is at present Agriculture Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Government, to initiate a change in Government in the State. Mir has denied the reports as baseless.
The enquiry report also allegedly said Rs 2.38 crore were given to Hakikat Singh to set up an NGO named ‘Jammu & Kashmir Humanitarian Service Organisation.’ It was reportedly linked to another NGO ‘Yes Kashmir’ which filed a PIl against the then Army Commander Bikram Singh in the alleged fake encounter in Janglat Mandi where Bikram was injured. The PIl was seen as an attempt to scuttle Bikram’s appointment as Army chief and change the line of succession.
Rubbishing the report, VK Singh said his legal team is studying legal options and suggested that he was being persecuted for his political leanings. He has campaigned against corruption alongside Anna Hazare besides attending the recent rally in Rewari.BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the allegations against VK Singh sound absolutely curious and odd not just because of the timing but the contents of the report. “It is obvious that the hounding of the retired Army Chief is being done because he was seen seated beside Narendra Modi at the Rewari rally,” she said.
BJP cautioned that this is the first time that a very serious allegation has been made about the Indian Army allegedly misusing secret funds meant for covert and counter Intelligence operations to topple an elected Government. However, BJP clarified that if there are allegations on which there is enough prima-facie evidence nothing can stop the Government from taking necessary and appropriate action. It further said the Army enquiry report had been submitted in March and sought to know why no action was taken since then.
Rejecting the charge that Singh was hounded after the Rewari rally and the Army report was politically motivated, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said: “It is extremely surprising that whenever there is an allegation with regard to alleged subversion of an institution, you always find BJP prematurely jumping to the defence of such individuals. I am quite struck by the fact. I hope that behind all these Incidents, there is not the invisible hand of the BJP.”