VK Singh, four army officials get bail in defamation case

New Delhi: A Delhi court today granted bail to five army officials, including former Army Chief General VK Singh, in a case where they were accused of issuing a press release in which they accused a former army official of offering a bribe on behalf of a vehicle company.

Granting bail to VK  Singh and the four others, Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja also asked them to furnish a surety amount of Rs.20,000.

Tejinder Singh had filed a case against the former army chief and others for allegedly making libellous statements against him in the media and accusing him of bribery.

Alleging that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him, Tejinder Singh had also named Army Vice Chief Lt Gen SK Singh, Director General Military Intelligence Lt Gen B.S. Thakur, Additional Director General Public Information Major Gen S.L. Narsimhan and Directorate General of Public Information Staff Officer Lt Col Hitten Sawhney.

Tejinder had filed the complaint after the Indian Army issued a press release stating that he had offered the General (retired) VK Singh a bribe on behalf of the makers of the all-terrain Tatra trucks to approve the purchase of a tranche of vehicles.

The CBI is presently investigating allegations that Tejinder had offered a bribe to the Army Chief and has questioned him multiple times. VK Singh had made the disclosure in an interview to a newspaper which had prompted the Defence Minister to order a probe into the matter.

The CBI had also questioned MD of Vectra group, Ravi Rishi for his alleged involvement in the bribe being paid and head of Bharat Earth Movers Limited VRS Natrajan has been suspended from his post.

with inputs from Agencies