The CBI filed its fifth chargesheet on Thursday against two former army officials for allegedly accepting a bribe from representatives of the Tehelka web portal posing as representatives of a ficticious arms firm.
The chargesheet was filed against Lt Col (retired) V P Sayal and sacked Brig Iqbal Singh for allegedly accepting Rs 45,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively to use their influence for facilitating an order for supplying hand-held thermal imagers to the army by the fictitious London-based Westend Arms company, an official spokesman said.
During its probe, the CBI claimed that from September 2000 to January 2001, a representative of the web portal held several meetings with Sayal, who had taken voluntary retirement in 1991 and was working as a middleman for arms companies.
Sayal, besides advising the so-called representative how to go about in the Indian market, introduced him to various high-ranking military officers and offered illegal gratification on behalf of Westend, the CBI alleged.
As consideration for the help provided by Sayal, he allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 45,000 for himself and another Rs 50,000 for Singh from the representative.
A sample of his voice and image were taken and these were matched scientifically to video footage secretly filmed by Tehelka during the investigations.
This is the fifth chargesheet after the Tehelka expose in 2001.
The CBI filed its first chargesheet against former BJP president Bangaru Laxman, the second against H C Pant, a former staff officer of the Ordnance Factory Cell, the third against a former Samta Party treasurer and the fourth against defence ministry's assistant financial advsior Narender Singh.
