Army Chief cools tempers, says no rift with govt

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Retreating from his hard positions in the last few days, Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh today said "rogue elements" were trying to project a "schism" between him and defence minister A.K. Antony and made it clear that he was duty bound to serve the country.

Facing flak and demands for his removal over some of his comments and moves, Gen. Singh issued a statement today trying to clear the air saying that projections of schism between him and Antony was "untrue and needed to be guarded against".

He said, for the media to constantly project every issue as a battle between the government and the Army Chief is "misleading".

The Army Chief's attempt to further cool tempers comes a day after Antony expressed government's confidence in the service chiefs. Antony also vowed to give maximum punishment to those behind the leak of Gen. Singh's letter to the Prime Minister in which he had spoken about lack of defence preparedness.

Gen. Singh had also issued a statement calling the leak a high treason and its source should be treated ruthlessly.

The Army Chief, who had lost his battle with the government over the age row, had recently raised the hackles of the government by giving an interview claiming he was offered Rs 14 crores in bribes to swing a sub-standard deal.

The leak of the letter to the Prime Minister raised tensions between the two sides.

"There have been a string of leaks culminating in the public airing of letter to hon'ble Prime Minister of India," Gen. Singh said. He said 'we are duty bound to serve our country and to protect the institutional integrity of the army at all costs even if we sometimes have to look within'.

Case registered

Meanwhile, the CBI on Friday registered a case in connection with the supply of all-terrain Tatra trucks through state-owned BEML to the Army and called for questioning Vectra group chairman Ravi Rishi who is a majority stake holder in Tatra.

CBI sources said British national Rishi, who is in the national capital for the Defence Expo, has been called for questioning in the connection with the alleged irregularities in the deal.

CBI Director A.P. Singh had examined a report forwarded by one of the joint directors of the agency who had opined that a case could be made out and a thorough investigation was required, the sources said.