The Central Bureau of Investigation filed a corruption and criminal conspiracy case against 17 Indian Army personnel including five Lieutenant Colonels and two Major-ranked officers and six others in a recruitment scam at several Service Selection Board centres, Hindustan Times reported.
On Monday, CBI Spokesperson R C Joshi said that the agency carried out raids at 30 locations across 13 cities including the Army’s Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment Area, residences of several accused in Bhatinda, Kapurthala, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati and Jorhat.
Among the officers named in the CBI FIR are Lt Col MVSNA Bhagwan, Lt Col Surender Singh of 31 SSB centre North, Lt Col YS Chauhan of 6 Mountain Division Ordnance Unit, Lt Col Sukhdev Arora – Directorate General Recruiting, Lt Col Vinay (Group Testing Officer- Selection Centre South Bangalore), Major Bhavesh Kumar (GTO at 21 SSB, Kapurthala) and Major Amit Fagna (422, Field Hospital, Delhi Cantt).
According to the CBI, all of them facilitated the selection of the candidates at SSBs.
The central anti-corruption agency registered the case on March 13 on a complaint filed by Brigadier (Vigilance) VK Purohit from the office of Additional Directorate General, Discipline and Vigilance, Adjutant General’s Branch, Army Headquarters. It is alleged that on February 28, 2021, input was received about the alleged involvement of serving personnel in accepting bribes for the clearance of review medical exam of temporarily rejected officer candidates at Base Hospital, New Delhi.
It was said that bribes in lakhs were paid to the officers and their relatives/family members through cheques, cash, RTGS, UPI for the selection of candidates.
The other army personnel named in the case include Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh; Havildar Pawan Kumar; Naik Parwinder Jeet Singh; Sepoys Kuldeep Singh and Rohit Kanwar; Havildar Rajesh Kumar and Havildar Harpal Singh; Lieutenant Navjot Singh Kanwar and Cadets Inderjeet and Hemant Dagar.
The Army said in its complaint that there is sufficient evidence of culpability of civilians and service personnel as the recipient of bribery. It said that the case is given to CBI for proper investigation.
On Monday, there was no statement from the Army.