Civilian deaths: Army inquiry rejects officer's charges

New Delhi: An Army Court of Inquiry (CoI) rejected the charges levelled by a serving officer that his colleagues in a Military Intelligence unit had shot dead three civilians inside the unit’s premises. “Court of inquires have been conducted and the charges have been found to be baseless,” an Army source said in New Delhi.[caption id=“attachment_872517” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Cleared after enquiry. PTI[/caption] The Major belonging to the 3 Corps Intelligence Signal Unit in Jorhat had written to the then Army Chief General VK Singh and the Eastern Army Commander alleging that his colleagues had killed three civilians inside the unit’s premises. The matter was also dealt by the then Army Chief and inquiries were launched to look into the matter. The charges were against three officers including a Colonel and two Captains. Army sources said the inquiry was headed by a senior officer and after going through all the facts of the matter, it came to the conclusion that the charges were baseless. The Major-rank officer had written twice to the Army Chief in 2011 and again in January 2012 seeking action against the officers allegedly responsible for the murder of three civilians picked up by the 3 Corps CISU in March 2010. The 3 Corps Intelligence Signal Unit works under the Dimapur-based 3 Corps. The case had become a bone of contention between the then Army Chief and the then 3 Corps Commander Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag, who was issued a show cause notice by the former in a related issue. PTI