Former army chief says he’s being targeted

A day after the government said it was examining an army report on the alleged misuse of a secret military intelligence unit during the term of General VK Singh (retd), the former army chief rubbished the allegations calling the report “motivated” and “laughable.”

A day after the government said it was examining an army report on the alleged misuse of a secret military intelligence unit during the term of General VK Singh (retd), the former army chief rubbished the allegations calling the report “motivated” and “laughable.”

He said the technical services division (TSD) was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai strikes “because of the requirements given according to the directions of the defence minister.”

An internal army probe had reportedly found that the now-disbanded TSD — set up in May 2010 — had misused secret funds to destabilise the Omar Abdullah government in J&K.

Singh said, “The lobbies are sucking the blood out of the army. The task was to ensure the security of the border. I would welcome a white paper on this,” adding that he was being targeted.

HT was the first to report on January 17, 2013 that an army probe, headed by director general of military operations Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, had recommended immediate disbanding of the unit as it had misused funds on unauthorised activities, including diverting money to compromise General Bikram Singh’s chances of taking over as chief. General Bikram Singh had constituted a board of officers in August 2012 to probe the TSD’s mandate, tasks executed by it and scrutinise its financial records.