Unit set up by V K Singh used secret funds to try and topple J&K govt, block Bikram Singh: Army inquiry
Ritu Sarin
Sep 20 2013
New Delhi
Misusing secret service funds to destabilise the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir, to pay off an NGO to try change the line of succession in the Army top brass, to buy off-air interception equipment, to conduct “unauthorised” covert operations — a string of alleged irregularities by the Technical Services Division (TSD), a controversial Military Intelligence (MI) unit set up by former Army Chief General V K Singh in May 2010,should come under the scanner of an external agency like the CBI.
This is a key recommendation of a secret Board of Officers inquiry report into the functioning of the TSD. The inquiry was led by Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, DG, Military Operations.
The report, which includes original Army documents and notings, was submitted to the then Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma around March this year. It has rattled the security establishment and prompted a series of measures to curtail MI’s powers, tighten monitoring of its covert operations and its use of secret service (SS) funds.
Government and Army sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that a summary of the report has been put up by the Ministry of Defence to Minister A K Antony who is understood to have instructed that its contents be brought to the notice of the Prime Minister’s Office. The report has been examined, sources said, at the “highest levels” in the MoD and the PMO.
National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon is known to have chaired more than one high-level meeting to discuss the report and follow-up action.
Sources said the report contains financial details of withdrawals of SS funds from accounts of the State Bank of India that match payments claimed by TSD officials — in their statements to the Board — for specific operations. It, however, cautions that given the covert nature of these operations, there is an element of “deniability’’.
Significantly, the Board of Officers inquiry took detailed testimonies of key personnel of the Army’s Intelligence Corps who were attached to TSD units, including Colonel Hunny Bakshi, who handled its key operations.
There are also statements from other senior MI officials who were not associated with TSD but have confirmed what they described as “siphoning’’ of large sums of money for purchase of snooping equipment and operations.
The Indian Express has learnt that the report cites testimonies of officials on money taken from SS funds for operational expenses by the TSD at the expense of other commands and field units. These claims include:
* Rs 1.19 crore given to Ghulam Hassan Mir, presently Agriculture Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, to engineer a change of Governmrnt in Jammu and Kashmir. When contacted by The Indian Express, Mir called the charge baseless.
* Rs 2.38 crore was given to one Hakikat Singh on orders from Army Headquarters. Hakikat Singh set up an NGO named “Jammu and Kashmir Humanitarian Service Organisation (JKHSO),” which was linked to “Yes Kashmir,” another NGO which filed a PIL against then Army Commander Bikram Singh (who is now the Army Chief) in the alleged fake encounter case in Jangalat Mandi when Bikram Singh was a Brigadier. That PIL, which was later dismissed, was widely seen as an attempt to scuttle Bikram Singh’s appointment and change the line of succession in the top brass.
* Rs 8 crore was spent on purchase of interception equipment from a Singapore-based company in November 2010 ostensibly meant to be deployed in the J&K 15 Corps. In March 2012, following orders of the then DG, MI, Lt Gen D S Thakur, the equipment was physically destroyed. Incidentally, this happened days after a report in The Indian Express on the illegal use of this equipment in New Delhi.
* Frequent foreign travel by TSD officials to places like London and Dubai using their personal and not official passports and of specific TSD officials “doctoring’’ documents to tarnish Army officers.
Officials in the MoD and PMO familiar with the Bhatia inquiry report told The Indian Express that with such details, the Army could well have initiated action against serving and retired officials but it has instead submitted the original records to the Ministry, leaving the final decision to them.
Indeed, when contacted, the Army spokesman said: “The case (the Bhatia report) has been closed from our side.”
Said a top PMO official: “The problem confronting us while dealing with the TSD report has been two-fold. One, those running the TSD appear to have covered their tracks well and destroyed crucial evidence; two, the statements contained in the inquiry report have no legal sanction. In fact, if they are faced with a court martial or CBI inquiry, these officials can turn around and deny everything they have admitted before General Bhatia.’’
Sources also said that before he demitted office in May, then Defence Secretary Sharma gave instructions that MI should now submit a quarterly statement of expenditure of SS funds to the Ministry of Defence.
The Government has also taken up the issue of a strict charter and mandate for the MI given that the agency is required to engage itself in only counter-intelligence and anti-militancy operations on the border and not conduct any covert or clandestine operations like the TSD did.
Also, instructions have been given that, henceforth, no special units, such as the TSD, are to be raised without authorization from the Ministry of Defence.
INTERMEDIARY TELLS EXPRESS: GEN SINGH SAID YOU WILL GET IT IN THE NECK IF YOU PUBLISH
FORMER ARMY Chief General V K Singh was contacted on telephone by The Indian Express on September 17 but did not respond to calls or text messages. The next day, he was sent a set of questions seeking his comments on the TSD and the findings of the inquiry report.
TO CONFIRM the email’s receipt and to again try and reach Singh, The Indian Express contacted Kunal Verma, a photojournalist commissioned by Singh — when he was Army Chief — to write a set of three pictorial books on the North-East.
ON SEPTEMBER 19, Verma called this reporter early in the morning with an offer to fix a meeting with Singh. A few hours later, he said Singh had told him to convey that “he does not wish to speak to The Indian Express and should the newspaper write anything about me they will get it in the neck”.
VERMA CLAIMED that Singh was unable to read the email since he was shifting residence and could not access it on his phone since it was not functioning. Verma asked for the email to be copied to him which The Indian Express declined to do.
LATER IN THE EVENING, however, PTI reported Singh as saying: “This (an apparent reference to the Bhatia report) is simple vendetta as some people are not comfortable with me sharing the dais with Narendra Modi to espouse the cause of ex-servicemen in the country.”
HE TOLD PTI that if anyone has recommended a probe into the functioning of the unit, then that person is “talking through his hat” as its operations were meant to be secret.
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SNIPPETS FROM THE 'TWITTER WORLD' PLEASE :
Congress slanders VK Singh, tweeters call hoax
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/09/20/congress-slanders-vk-singh-tweeters-call-hoax-135214.html
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Fine art of smear: What’s wrong with the allegations against General VK Singh
Praveen Swami
September 20, 2013
http://www.firstpost.com/india/fine-art-of-smear-whats-wrong-with-the-allegations-against-general-vk-singh-1122565.html
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COMMENT :
SNIPPETS FROM THE 'TWITTER WORLD' PLEASE :
Congress slanders VK Singh, tweeters call hoax
September 20, 2013
Sharing the dais with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi seems to have come at a heavy price for former Army chief VK Singh.An IE report has alleged that Singh was behind a plot to topple the Omar Abdullah Government in Jammu & Kashmir.The allegation has brought forth scathing reactions from Twitterverse.
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/09/20/congress-slanders-vk-singh-tweeters-call-hoax-135214.html
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Fine art of smear: What’s wrong with the allegations against General VK Singh
Praveen Swami
September 20, 2013
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COMMENT :
The 'Indian Express' - Delhi Edition - is the ONLY NEWSPAPER OF 20 SEP 2013 - to carry this 'SPOOKY CONCOCTION' !!
It runs along the already familiar lines of an earlier 'SPOOKY STORY' of April 5, 2013 :
" The January Night Raisina Hill was spooked "
Tells a lot about the EDITORIAL INTEGRITY OF the Editor-in-Chief of thepaper , Mr. Shekar Gupta. !!!
Bala
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- - - - AND, Talking about Mr. SG ---
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Indian Media Watch.... Changing The Way You Consume News..
Shekhar Gupta Lays An Egg
April 4, 2012
Before you proceed maybe you would like to look up a bit of history. Here are some posts on this site about Gupta’s passionate skulduggery for the Congress party.‘Shekhar Gupta's Summer Freeze’, ‘Shekhar Gupta - Doctoring & Nursing The Congress’ and ‘Saving Shekhar’s Indian Express’. Nobody can recall how a newspaper that was famous for its bold anti-establishment stance and standing up for freedom of the press has come to be a doormat for a political party. In the recent past Gupta and his pitiful rag, including writers like Tavleen Singh, have done hit jobs on anyone that has had a confrontation with the Congress-UPA govt. This includes Anna Hazare and Team Anna, particularly Kiran Bedi, Baba Ramdev and now comes the turn of the Army chief Gen.VK Singh.
Once upon a time the IE was the second most read newspaper in Bombay and in many other cities. It has sunk without a trace in many cities and survival against competition can only be with putting out lousy storieswith screaming headlines. By evening today, Shekhar Gupta is the laughing stock of the nation. He will really have to start worrying how he spooked himself and IE.He managed to lay an egg alright. LOL! He made only one mistake – He should have called Arindam to count it before it hatched. As it stands, this has to be the worst report of the year gone terribly wrong so far.
http://www.mediacrooks.com/2012/04/shekhar-gupta-lays-egg.html#.Ujz8nlMZTyQ
Senior minister Sutradhar of coup report?
MADHAV NALAPAT
4th Apr 2012
NEW DELHI
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/senior-minister-sutradhar-of-coup-report#.T3xWbumykgV.twitter
MADHAV NALAPAT
4th Apr 2012
NEW DELHI
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/senior-minister-sutradhar-of-coup-report#.T3xWbumykgV.twitter
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