Union home minister P. Chidambaram has indicated that the inquiry by the Intelligence Bureau into the leakage of the recent letter written by the Army Chief to the Prime Minister — on critical shortages in the Army — will be completed soon. “I don’t think there is a time-frame. The ministry of defence (MoD) 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,” he said. In Kolkata, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to downplay the controversy between the Army Chief and the government, saying, “There is no fiasco. It has been explained by the defence minister on the floor of the House (Parliament).”
The Chief of Army Staff is also understood to have sought a meeting with the Prime Minister to reiterate that he did not have anything to do with the leakage of the top secret letter. In another development, the Army Chief, while interacting with retired servicemen, is also understood to have praised the efforts of defence minister A.K. Antony in addressing the concerns of the retired servicemen. Gen. Singh had earlier accused certain (rogue) elements of trying to create a rift between him and the minister.
Sources also said the Army Chief has named Lt. Gen. (retd.) Tejinder Singh in his complaint to the CBI on the `14 crore bribe offered to him and that Gen. Singh has also assured the CBI of providing more material about the alleged bribe offer very soon.
As far as the agency’s probe into Tatra trucks deal is concerned, the CBI is likely to collect some fresh documents from the MoD on Monday.
The agency is also planning to question Vectra Group chairman Ravi Rishi again on Monday. If required, the agency officials will also record his statement. The CBI has also informally asked Mr Rishi not to leave the country.
The agency is expected to soon request for the order to be issued from the competent authority.