Details given by Army Chief fail to convince CBI

Arunima CNN-IBN | 19 Jun 2013 05:14 am

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is not convinced with the letter written by Army Chief General VK Singh and wants more information from him. The CBI will seek further clarification from General Singh on the bribery allegations made by him.

No case has been registered yet on the Army Chief's allegations. The CBI said it may write to the Army Chief or meet him next week seeking more information. General VK Singh had on Friday replied to the CBI and confirmed that the bribe was offer by Lieutenant General (Retired) Tejinder Singh to clear the supply of a tranche of sub-standard vehicles for the Army. General Singh also said that he will give more details soon.

Surprisingly, no bribe amount has been mentioned in the complaint by General Singh.

Singh, who had made the allegation in a media interview that forced the Defence Minister to order a CBI inquiry, told the agency in a letter on Friday that there was a bribe offer from a lobbyist but did not give details of the amount or the name of the person who made the offer, CBI sources said.

The Army Chief had claimed in media interviews that an equipment lobbyist had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter which he had reported to Defence Minister AK Antony.

The Ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation made by the Army chief.

Meanwhile, the Centre and the Army Chief are cooling tempers after a week of charges and countercharges. After General VK Singh denied any rift between the Army and the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said, "There is no fiasco, it has been explained by the Defence Minister on the floor of the House."

The Army Chief in a fresh statement on Friday had tried to douse the controversy. He said, "There were rogue elements trying to create a rift between the government and the Army. There was no battle between the armed forces and the Government of India and the Army and the Chief were very much a part of it."

To those questioning the timing of the controversy, he added the bribery row was revived only because the person in question re-surfaced in March. The Army Chief also said that corrective steps were taken earlier itself after talks with Defence Minister AK Anthony.

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