Former Army Chief General V.K. Singh has provided fresh evidence pertaining to the bribe-offer allegedly made to him by a retired Army officer on September 22, 2010 to the CBI. Fresh evidence, including a CD, provided by the former Army Chief, are being scrutinised by the agency sleuths, sources said.
The CBI on October 20, 2012 had registered a case against a former senior Army officer for allegedly making a bribe-offer to the then Army Chief to clear a tranche of 1,676 high-mobility Tatra vehicles for the Indian Army. General V.K. Singh (Retd) in his statement to the agency sleuths had claimed that a former Army officer had offered him a bribe of `14 crore, a matter he had reported to the defence minister. The ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation made by the then Army chief.
Talking to this newspaper, Vishwajeet Singh, senior advocate and counsel of the former Army Chief, said, “Yes, my client recently provided substantial corroborative evidence, including a CD, to the CBI pertaining to the case. I hope that these will certainly help the prosecuting agency in its probe”. The former Army Chief has now provided enough evidence to corroborate the allegation to the CBI, he added.
Sources said fresh evidence provided by the former Army Chief is being scrutinised. After getting a formal complaint from the then Army Chief, the CBI had registered a PE in April, 2012 which was later converted into a regular case in October, 2012. General V.K. Singh (Retd) had also handed over the “record of discussion” (RD), regarding the bribe-offer allegedly made to him on September 22, 2010, to the CBI.
Probe by the CBI has already revealed that the retired Army official had reportedly visited the then Army Chief’s office in South Block on September 22, 2010. Scrutiny of the visitors register (2010) of General Singh established that the former Army office had made an entry in the register before meeting him on September 22, 2010, sources added.