Army chief names Tejinder Singh in his bribery complaint to CBI

Days after his explosive media interviews, Army chief Gen VK Singh has named retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh in his complaint to the CBI as the person who offered him a Rs14 crore bribe to clear a tranche of nearly 600 "sub-standard" trucks.

He has assured the agency of providing more material about the alleged bribe offer very soon, CBI sources said.

Tejinder Singh, who has refuted the allegations, may now be questioned by the CBI which has started examing the complaint received yesterday. He has slapped a defamation case against the Army Chief and other officers.

Sources said a call on whether to proceed with a preliminary enquiry or a regular FIR would be taken soon.

The agency was waiting for a formal complaint from the Army Chief regarding details of alleged bribe offer to initiate a formal probe into the matter referred to it by the Defence ministry. CBI officers had met him on Monday evening.

The Army Chief had not named the vehicles in the interviews but he was referring to Tatra trucks.

Contradicting Gen VK Singh's perception of Tatra trucks, DRDO chief VK Saraswat said there was nothing substandard about the vehicles used as base for launching all important missiles like Prithvi and Agni.

"Tatra truck is an outstanding truck... They have a very good cross country capability and can move at good speeds," Saraswat said at a press conference at Defence Expo here.

In Kolkata, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to downplay the battle of attrition between the Army Chief and the government.

"There is no fiasco. It has been explained by the Defence Minister on the floor of the House (Parliament)," he told reporters at his south Kolkata residence on being asked about the differences between the Army chief and the Defence Minister.

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

After receiving reference from the Ministry, the agency had asked it to make available a complaint from Singh besides other details such as list of witnesses and supporting documents after which it would initiate its probe in the case.

In a suo-motu statement in the Rajya Sabha, Antony had said the Army chief had told him about the bribe offer, which he heard with "shock" and asked him to take action against the person.

But the Army chief did not want to pursue the matter for unknown reasons, the minister had said.

In a related development, Government said the Intelligence Bureau has been asked to quickly complete its inquiry into the leak of a letter written by the Army Chief to the Prime Minister highlighting various shortcomings in the Army but no time has been fixed for it.

"I don't think there is a time-frame. The Ministry of Defence has asked the IB to look into the matter and I know that the IB is looking into the matter. There is no time-frame. But obviously it has to be done quickly," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

On Thursday, Antony vowed to take the "strongest action" under laws against those responsible for the leak.

Antony said the government will get to the root of it and find out the persons behind the "anti-national" act.

The Army chief had yesterday said that there were "rogue elements" trying to project a "schism" between him and the Defence Minister and asserted that he was part of the government.

His attempt to further cool tempers apparently comes as a response to Antony expressing government's confidence in the service chiefs at a press conference on Thursday.

Antony and Gen Singh had condemned the leak of the Army chief's letter to the Prime Minister as anti-national and high treason respectively.