Tatra case: Court dismisses Tejinder Singh's bail plea, orders his arrest

Snowboarded

Editor

posted on 10 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

48
views

Former Army Chief VK Singh had alleged that Tejinder Singh offered him Rs 14 crore as bribe for clearing file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 heavy mobility Tatra vehicles.

New Delhi: The Patiala House court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of retired Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh in Tatra trucks case. The court has ordered that Tejinder Singh be taken into custody.

Former Army Chief and MoS External Affairs VK Singh had alleged that Tejinder Singh offered him Rs 14 crore as bribe for clearing file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 heavy mobility Tatra vehicles.

On Thursday, a special court took cognisance of the chargesheet and relied upon statements of former Defence Minister A K Antony, V K Singh and other witnesses whose testimonies were recorded by the agency during the probe.

"I have gone through charge sheet and statements of Gen (retd) VK Singh, Major Gen J P Singh the then military assistant of the COAS, AK Antony the then Defence Minister and other witnesses, published Rajya Sabha debate dated March 27, 2012 in which Antony has stated in the Upper House that Gen VK Singh had informed him about the bribe offered by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh and other relevant documents.

"On the basis of material on record, there is sufficient ground to take cognisance of offence under section 12 (abetment of offence) of Prevention of Corruption Act...though offence under section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of PC Act was not committed in consequence of the said abetment and I accordingly take cognisance under section 12 of PC Act," the judge said, while summoning Tejinder Singh as an accused on September 1.

During the arguments on consideration of the charge sheet, senior public prosecutor VK Sharma had told the court that there was sufficient evidence to take cognisance and summoned the accused.

The CBI in its chargesheet had alleged that in the month of August-September 2010, the file pertaining to procurement of 1,676 Tatra vehicles was pending before VK Singh, who is now a Minister of State of External Affairs and Minister of State in-charge of Department of Northeast Region.

(With additional information from PTI)