Former Vice Chief of Indian Army Lt Gen Nobel Thamburaj and two others were on Tuesday booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misconduct in an out of court land dispute settlement to benefit a private builder to the tune of Rs 46 crore.
The case was registered against Gen Thamburaj on Tuesday evening under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act in a designated CBI court in Pune after receiving requisite sanction from the defence ministry.
Gen Thamburaj, while he was posted as general-officer-in- command of Southern Command, is alleged to have entered into a criminal conspiracy with former Defence Estate Officer SR Nayyar and Pune-based Kalpataru builders in settling a matter out of the court of a defence property despite having favourable orders from various courts, a CBI statement said.
The CBI on Wednesday carried out searches at various places in Mumbai and Pune, which included the residential premises of the retired general. This is possibly for the first time that a vice chief of the Indian Army is facing corruption charges.
According to the CBI, Thamburaj, who retired as vice chief in October 2009, and Nayyar had allegedly shown undue favour to the builder for a property measuring 0.96 acres in defence land at Pune cantonment.
"There was a dispute going on regarding the property in question. Thamburaj and Nayyar settled the matter out of court in spite of several court orders given in favour of the army.
The duo indulged in gross misconduct," CBI said. The two officers ignored rules and policies, violated the terms of lease entered into by the ministry of defence and Kalpataru and caused the private company pecuniary gains of about Rs 46 crore, it said.