Tejinder Singh files petition before Antony

After he failed to get any relief from the high court before army chief's retirement, Lt Gen Tejinder Singh on Tuesday approached Defence Minister A K Antony for taking disciplinary action against Gen V K Singh for issuing an alleged defamatory press release against him.

In a petition to Antony, the retired official said, "To facilitate disciplinary proceedings against Gen V K Singh, who is retiring on May 31, you are requested to pass an order for his 'attachment' under Section 123 of the Army Act.

Under Section 123, action can be taken against any officer or personnel for offences committed during service even three years after his retirement from the Army.

He alleged that Gen V K Singh and four other subordinates had "conspired to issue the said press communique. To my understanding, you are the only appropriate and competent authority to initiate necessary action against these individuals for committing offence under Section 63 of Army Act."

Along with his application, he has attached the press release issued by the Army Headquarters on March 5 which alleged that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh was behind leaking stories in the media about tapping of phones of defence ministry officials by the army and offering a bribe on behalf of Tatra Vectra.

The army release also stated that Lt Gen Tejinder Singh was being questioned by the Government for procuring off the air monitoring equipment without proper sanctions.