CBI charges retired Lt Gen Tejinder in Tatra truck kickbacks issue

The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a charge-sheet against Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh for allegedly offering a bribe of Rs14 crore to the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen Vijay Kumar Singh, who has turned into a Bharatiya Janata Party politician and is now a union minister of state.

The charge-sheet, filed under Section 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act, says Lt Gen Tejinder Singh offered the bribe on behalf of Tatra trucks, which supplied all-terrain vehicles to the Indian Army.

Section 12 deals with the offence of offering bribe to a public servant.

Officials in the CBI said the charges were based on circumstantial evidence, which includes Tejinder Singh's meeting with V K Singh, who put on hold the order for the supply of trucks from Tatra.

Expressing surprise over the move Tejinder said in 2013 there were dozens of media reports which stated that no evidence was found in the case and that it was heading for a closure; and these reports were obviously based on information from the CBI.

''My interaction with the agency clearly indicated that there was no credible evidence found. Now with the change of government, there seems to be a change of heart in the probe agency and therefore the filing of a charge-sheet is abuse of power … and politically motivated,'' Gen Tejinder Singh told PTI.

A case was registered against Tejinder on 19 October 2012 following a complaint by Gen V K Singh that Tejinder had offered him a bribe of Rs14 crore on 22 September 2010 on behalf of a supplier for clearing the procurement of 1,676 high mobility vehicles for the Army.

The CBI during its probe also recorded the statement of the then defence minister A K Antony of the Congress party, who corroborated that the army chief had come to his office and informed him that Gen Tejinder had made a bribe offer.

As a corroborative evidence in its charge sheet, the CBI has mentioned the orders of the then Army Chief to his staff that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh should not be given any appointment in future.