New Delhi

Army chief told to probe into meat contract issue

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked Chief of the Army Staff J.J. Singh to conduct an inquiry into charges of corruption levelled by two generals against each other.

A Member of Parliament brought the issue to Mr. Mukherjee's notice. The two generals exchanged letters, charging the other with corruption on supply of meat to the Ladakh region, which included Siachen, Defence Ministry sources said.

The allegations surfaced after they exchanged letters making allegations of irregularities against each other in for the contract for supplying meat running into crores of rupees when they were then posted at the Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir in 2003.

Though Army sources refused to divulge their names, the generals were at the Army Headquarters here as Commandant of the Army Service Corps Centre and Director-General, Supply and Transport,.

An Army spokesman said: "Any person at any level, if found blameworthy, appropriate action will be initiated against him. No acts of commission or omission will be suppressed or overlooked. We will not allow any culprit to go scot-free." The irregularities in meat contracts had come to the notice of the Army Headquarters through departmental channels, besides being told about it by the Defence Ministry.

"The matter is being looked into at an appropriate level. It would be premature to pinpoint any individual or appointment till the veracity of irregularities are authenticated," he added.

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