Scam has damaged army image: Gen V.K. Singh

Army chief Gen V.K. Singh on Thursday said the alleged involvement of retired service chiefs in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam had damaged the organisation’s image and tarnished the honour of the army chief’s office.

Army chief Gen V.K. Singh on Thursday said the alleged involvement of retired service chiefs in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam had damaged the organisation’s image and tarnished the honour of the army chief’s office.

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Former army chiefs Deepak Kapoor and NC Vij and retired navy chief Adm Madhvendra Singh are among those facing flak for grabbing Adarsh flats ostensibly meant Kargil heroes and war widows.

Referring to the army chief’s office as a revered institution, Gen Singh said anything that degraded it hurt the fighting force deeply. He said the army was extremely saddened by the Adarsh episode and it would take time to recover.

In an interview to Devil’s Advocate on CNN-IBN, Singh said millions of soldiers felt a sense of shame. “Jawans will say…here’s a man who we trusted…on whose orders we are ready to go to battle…It has hurt the army deeply.”

Speaking for the first time after the scam unfolded, Singh said, “People will think anyone asking something for martyrs was doing it for personal gains.”

He said the army was probing institutional failures and former chiefs would not get any special treatment. “The probe will look into where things went wrong. It will not go into their motives…we want to figure out where we went wrong as an organisation.”

Singh called upon officers and jawans to stand up against corruption and report irregularities.

KAPOOR MEETS ANTONY

Former army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor met defence minister A.K. Antony to clear the air on controversies surrounding the properties owned by him.

Kapoor is facing criticism for misusing his office to corner a flat in Adarsh, though he has offered to surrender it.