'Some abnormality' noticed in Antony's office: Army

Three days after denying that Defence Minister A K Antony's office was bugged, army on Monday admitted that "some abnormality" was noticed which it claimed later turned out to be malfunctioning of an instrument.

The army also sought to blame a retired Lt Gen for giving out "salacious and malafide stories" to the media on it.

"In a routine check, some abnormality was noticed in Antony's office, which was brought to the notice of defence secretary. Further checks carried out revealed that voltage drop noticed was due to malfunctioning of the instrument.

"Army does not carry out 'Of the Air Monitoring' but seeks the assistance of the Intelligence Bureau, if it finds the need," army sources said in New Delhi without elaborating.

They said such snooping equipment is in possession of the signal intelligence wing and is deployed along the borders and in counter insurgency areas.

"This equipment is under control of the Director General Defence Intelligence Agency(DG DIA) and not under the Military Intelligence," sources said.

Mystery shrouded reports of alleged bugging in Antony's South Block office which is said to have occurred in the middle of last month. But the ministry has officially denied any bugging.

Pointing fingers at a former DIA chief, they said the present stories in this regard are being put out by him.

The Lt Gen has been earlier questioned on the purchase of the 'Of the air Monitoring System', without sanction by the technically empowered committee, they said.

Sources further claimed that "the officer along with some disgruntled serving officers of the military intelligence, against whom disciplinary and administrative actions were in the pipeline, has worked out this fictitious story".

The army strongly denies this and takes strong exception to such salacious and malafide stories, coming out as news, they said.

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