Defamation case: Ex-Army Chief Gen V K Singh to appear in court

New Delhi: Former Army Chief Gen V K Singh and four top serving officers are likely to appear in a Delhi court tomorrow following summonses issued against them in a criminal defamation case filed by Lt Gen(retd) Tejinder Singh. Besides Gen V K Singh, the other four named in the complaint and have been summoned are Vice Chief of Army Staff S K Singh, Lt Gen B S Thakur (DGMI), Major General S L Narshiman (Additional Director General of Public Information) and Lt Col Hitten Sawhney. [caption id=“attachment_383811” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] In his complaint, Tejinder Singh has accused them of misusing their official positions, power and authority to level false charges against him. Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja on June 8 had directed them to appear before him saying all the five have been “summoned as accused in the present matter”. The court, however, had said the summons are only for the alleged offence of defamation as the allegation of hatching a criminal conspiracy appeared to be “absurd”. Tejinder Singh had filed the complaint alleging that he was defamed by the Army through its press release issued on March 5, which accused him of offering a bribe of Rs 14 crore to the erstwhile Army chief to clear a deal of 600 trucks, a charge refuted by him. The court had earlier directed the Defence Ministry to place before it the file related to the issuance of the March 5 press release to ascertain whether or not, the five persons accused of defaming Tejinder Singh had any role in it. The press release blamed Tejinder Singh, former chief of the Defence Intelligence Agency, and some disgruntled serving officers of the Military Intelligence for planting story in the media relating to purported tapping of some sensitive phones in the capital. Earlier, the court had said that it was “prima facie” satisfied that the March 5 press release was defamatory" as “ex-facie” serious allegation of “bribery” has been made against Tejinder Singh, who had a long and distinguished career in the Army. PTI