NEW DELHI, Oct 20:
CBI today registered a case against Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh for allegedly making a bribe offer to former army chief V K Singh to clear a tranche of “substandard” Tatra-BEML vehicles and carried out searches at seven places here and in Mumbai.
The agency’s move comes after nearly six months of preliminary enquiry in which it gathered enough prima-facie evidence to register a case against Tejinder Singh under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, CBI sources said.
The messages sent to Tejinder Singh seeking his reactions remained unanswered, they said.
After registering a case under section 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency carried out searches at the premises of Vectra Chairman Ravinder Rishi, also a director in Tatra Sipox UK which supplied all terrain trucks to BEML for supplying to army, and Singh here, they said.
They said agency also carried searches in Mumbai and Noida at offices of Vectra and its officials.
After getting a formal complaint from Army Chief, CBI had initiated a preliminary enquiry in April this year.
The then Army chief had alleged that Tejinder Singh offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter he had reported to Defence Minister A K Antony, to clear purchase of nearly 1,676 high mobility Tatra BEML trucks in September 2010.
Tejinder Singh had refuted the allegations and also slapped a defamation case against Gen Singh.
As part of the Preliminary Enquiry, CBI has looked into the alleged relationship Tejinder Singh enjoyed with the Vectra group which purportedly prompted him to make the offer to the then Army Chief, the sources said.
The agency has examined Singh during enquiry for his alleged relations with arms dealers including Rishi.
Rishi is already an accused in connection with a separate case relating to irregularities in the supply of Tatra BEML trucks to army. (PTI)