Four Army officials suspended

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, MARCH 14. The Government today suspended a senior Army officer and three Defence Ministry officials even as the Army ordered an in-house court of inquiry in the wake of last evening's disclosures by the website tehelka.com about the corruption in defence deals.

According to an official statement, those suspended were Major General P. S. K. Choudhary, Additional Director- General, Weapons and Equipment Wing, Mr. H. C. Pant, Staff officer to Ordnance Factory Board, Mr. Narendra Singh, Assistant Financial Adviser, Ministry of Defence, and Mr. P. Sasi, Assistant in Army Headquarters.

A ``competent authority'' ordered the suspension on the basis of a ``preliminary inquiry'', the statement added. Government sources said the statements of the alleged beneficiaries were recorded as mandated by the inquiry. More suspensions were expected as others who might be involved in the scandal were not in the capital and therefore unavailable for recording their statements.

Other serving officers, allegedly involved in the scandal include Brigadier Anil Sehgal, Director, Directorate- General of Ordnance and Supply (DGOS), Lt. Colonel Sharma, in- charge procurement Air Headquarters, and Major General Manjit Singh Ahluwalia.

The Tehelka disclosures triggered a series of meetings in and outside the Defence Ministry since last night. The Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, held a brainstorming session today with the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sushil Kumar, the Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Shamsher Mehta, and the Defence Secretary, Mr. Yogendra Narain, among others.

He also chaired another meeting this morning in which Lt. Gen. Mehta, Major General S.K Sanan and the Joint Secretary (G) in the Ministry, Mr. P.S. Lalli, were present, to discuss the legal and disciplinary aspects related to the disclosures.

A meeting of top Army officers this afternoon was chaired by the Vice-Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. General Vijay Oberoi, who returned here from Bhuj. Others present included the Director- General Military Intelligence, Lt. Gen. O.S. Lohchab, Major General S. K. Sanan, and the Director-General, Ceremonies and Welfare, Lt. Gen. C. R. Sampath Kumar. The Army Chief, General S. Padmanabhan, now in Mhow, is expected to return shortly.

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