Army asked to explain release against Tejinder Singh

The Defence Ministry on Tuesday asked the army to explain its March 5 press release in which it accused retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh of offering a bribe on behalf of Tatra trucks company.

The explanation was sought by the Defence Ministry after former Director General Defence Intelligence Agency (DG,DIA) Lt Gen Tejinder Singh sent the notices to it and Defence Minister AK Antony.

The Army Headquarters has been asked to explain the press release, which was not sent through the authorised and official channel of communication of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry officials said here.

In the unusual press release sent directly by Army's Additional Director General (Public Information) under the Military Intelligence branch, Lt Gen Tejinder Singh was blamed for offering bribes and being involved in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.

"This officer has also been an allottee in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai and has also offered bribe on behalf of Tatra and Vetra Limited, which supplies vehicles to BEML," the Army had said on March 5.

It had also blamed the former DG, DIA for leaking stories in the media about the Army tapping phones of the Defence Minister and other Ministry officials.

"The present story (about tapping) has been put out by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh, who has been earlier questioned on the purchase of the "Of the air Monitoring System", without sanction by the technically empowered committee," it had said.