Ex-army chief General VK Singh summoned to court in July for defamation case

New Delhi: General VK Singh, who has been sued for defamation, has been summoned to a Delhi court on July 20. General Singh, who retired last month, has been sued by Tejinder Singh, a former army officer, who allegedly offered General Singh 14 crores as a bribe for clearing "substandard trucks" in 2010.  

In March this year, the army in a press release stated that Tejinder Singh, who retired in July 2010 as Director of Intelligence Agency (DIA)  had tried to circumvent the guidelines to buy off-the-air monitoring equipment. The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) provides and coordinates intelligence for the Indian armed forces. The press release also said that Tejinder Singh had offered bribes on behalf of Tatra and Vectra Limited, which supplies trucks to the army. Tejinder Singh has, in his testimony in court, described the charges as completely "false and concocted" and says they "have caused immeasurable harm to his reputation." 

The press release blamed "some disgruntled serving military intelligence officers" of spreading "salacious and malafide stories" that the army had been spying on the Defence Ministry as the army chief took the government to court over an age dispute. General Singh wanted the government to accept that he is a year younger than his records reflect. Had he won his case, he would have been eligible for another year in office. He dropped his petition in the Supreme Court after judges indicated they would not rule in his favour.

A few months later, General Singh, while still army chief, disclosed that he had been offered 14 crores by a retired officer to sanction the purchase of trucks for the army. He did not take any names. Defence Minister AK Antony said in Parliament that in a private conversation with him, the chief had identified the alleged lobbyist as Tejinder Singh.

Advertisement