Taking cognisance of CBI’s chargesheet, a special court on Thursday summoned Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh on September 1 for allegedly offering Rs. 14 crore bribe to then Army Chief Gen VK Singh for clearing file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 heavy mobility Tatra vehicles.
Special CBI judge Madhu Jain took cognisance of the charge sheet and relied upon statements of former defence minister AK Antony, VK Singh and other witnesses whose testimonies were recorded by the agency during the probe.
“I have gone through charge sheet and statements of Gen (retd) VK Singh, Major Gen JP Singh the then military assistant of the COAS, AK Antony the then defence minister to and other witnesses, published Rajya Sabha debate dated March 27, 2012 in which Antony has stated in the upper house that Gen VK Singh had informed him about the bribe offered by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh and other relevant documents.
“On the basis of material on record, there is sufficient ground to take cognisance of offence under section 12 (abetment of offence) of Prevention of Corruption Act… though offence under section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of PC Act was not committed in consequence of the said abetment and I accordingly take cognisance under section 12 of PC Act,” the judge said, while summoning Tejinder Singh as an accused on September 1.
During the arguments on consideration of the charge sheet, senior public prosecutor VK Sharma had told the court that there was sufficient evidence to take cognisance and summoned the accused.
The CBI in its charge sheet had alleged that in the month of August-September 2010, the file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 Tatra vehicles was pending before VK Singh, who is now a minister of state of external affairs and minister of state in-charge of department of Northeast region.
(Source: PTI)
