Leh clashes: Army Major had approached police

An Army Major, who was involved in the recent bloody clashes among military personnel in Leh, had approached Jammu and Kashmir police to register a case against a Sepoy for allegedly molesting his wife.

The Major came to the Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Gupta's office here with a verbal complaint about the brawl that took place in Nyoma, 150 kilometres from here on May 10-11, and also informed him about the alleged molestation of his wife by a Sepoy, official sources said.

The sources said that the Major was advised by the police that any action could be taken only after the officer came through a proper channel or with a written complaint as the police would then have to investigate the entire case that took place during a firing camp in Nyoma.

When contacted, Northern Army Command spokesperson Lt Col Rajesh Kalia said he was not aware of any such development and declined to make any further comments saying an Army Court of Inquiry was underway.

The Major also informed police about the problems that he had faced during the clashes, which had left the Commanding officer of 226 Field Regiment Col P Kadam and four other jawans injured, the sources said.

Col Kadam was injured and taken to Leh base hospital. They said that a mention about the incident had been made in the daily dairy of the police station but no case had been registered by the police so far as the Major had not returned with a formal written complaint.

A group of army officers and jawans clashed in an artillery regiment near here following the incident of alleged misbehaviour involving an orderly.

The Major along with his other colleagues had allegedly beaten up Col Kadam after he had sided with the jawans of the Regiment, who were undergoing firing practice at this place.

Army had termed the incident as a "minor scuffle" and said that some of its men had received "a few minor injuries".

However, correcting its attempt to downplay the incident, the Army submitted a revised report to the Defence Ministry three days ago on a direction by Defence Minister A K Antony.

With media reporting the entire incident in detail with some sections even calling it a mutiny, Antony had asked the army to provide complete information.