Army chief says coup story blown out of proportion, orchestrated

New Delhi: Indian Army Chief General VK Singh on Friday said the story that suggested a coup bid on the basis of movement of two key Army units towards the capital has been “blown out of proportion”.

“The story starts in January. Any journalist worth his name will say there is no story in it. .. it was blown out of proportion as a scoop,” Gen Singh told a TV channel in an interview.

Hitting out at a leading newspaper for running a story on April that claimed the Raisina Hills, the seat of the Indian government, was “spooked” Jan 16 after the troop movement, the Army Chief said his side of the story was not taken.

“The story came as a headline by a respected newspaper. The story was dead. My side of the story was not taken. It was orchestrated. It is malafide,” said Gen Singh, who is retiring on May 31.

He also said the paper has lost “credibility” by putting out the story.

The newspaper story had said the Hisar-based Mechanised Infantry unit and elements from the 50 Para Brigade in Agra moved towards the capital on the night of Jan 16, without following the standard operating procedure of informing the defence ministry in advance.

The report said since this happened when Gen Singh was waging a judicial battle against the government over his age row, it created unease and suspicion in Delhi. But the paper left it short of calling it a coup bid.

IANS