CBI likely to close preliminary enquiry on VK Singh's bribe complaint

New Delhi: The much-hyped complaint of then army chief Gen VK Singh is likely to be closed as he is yet to provide any document to support his claim that he had been offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by a retired officer to clear a tranche of “sub-standard” vehicles. Senior CBI officials said after recording the statement of Gen (retd) Singh last year, CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry against unknown people to probe the matter but nothing was emerging from a year of investigations.[caption id=“attachment_942367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] General (Retd) VK Singh. AFP[/caption] The former army chief had been making claims that he had some documents which will prove the complicity of the retired official and others in the case but he has so far not been able to share even a shred of paper with CBI, they said. The bribe offer, according to Gen Singh, was made in 2010 and the former army chief was unable to explain why he had maintained a silence for more than two years, the officials said. A PE is formal initiation of probe before registering an FIR but during this phase the agency does not have powers to question, search or arrest. The agency had on 10 April, last year received a complaint from Gen Singh about the alleged bribery offer made to him by retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, who has denied the charge, terming it as absolutely false and concocted. Then army chief had alleged that Tejinder Singh had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter he had reported to Defence Minister AK Antony, to clear purchase of nearly 600 all-terrain Tatra BEML trucks. Tejinder Singh has also slapped a defamation case against the former army chief and other officers. Gen (retd) Singh had been asked him to submit detailed description of the incident, list of possible witnesses and supporting documents on the issue but these were never received by the probe agency, they said. PTI