Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh has named former Defence Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh (Retd) in his complaint to the CBI on the alleged `14-crore bribe offered him to clear a tranche of 600 Tatra trucks. He assured the CBI he will provide more material on the bribe offer soon. Lt. Gen. Singh denied this, and took the Army Chief to court.
The CBI started examining Gen. Singh’s brief complaint Saturday, but sources said it will register a regular case after getting more details.
Army Headquarters earlier accused Lt. Gen. Singh of offering a bribe on behalf of Tatra-Vectra Ltd. The Chief’s written complaint follows a media interview in which he alleged being offered `14 crores as a bribe in 2010. He had not named Lt. Gen. Singh in the interview. The CBI has registered a case on the Tatra probe.
In New Delhi, DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat described the Tatra trucks as “very good vehicles” and said “our experience has been very positive”. On the controversy involving the Army Chief and the defence minister, Dr Saraswat praised both, adding: “If there are differences, it should be handled cautiously.”