Chandigarh, April 1
Two colonels and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) are to be tried by general court martial (GCM) for alleged misappropriation of ammunition worth about Rs 20 lakh while their respective units were deployed in the Kargil sector over the past few years.
The said misappropriation came to light when large quantities of small-arms ammunition was found on the banks of the Indus near Dah in Jammu and Kashmir on August 20, 2005. The Army had ordered a court of inquiry into the matter.
The court martial, convened on the orders of the General Officer Commanding, 8 Mountain Division, Maj Gen V.S. Tonk is expected to begin next week, it is learnt. Brig V.V. Raghvan has been appointed as the GCM’s presiding officer.
The officers are facing five charges each under section 52 (f) and section 63 of the Army Act for intent to cause wrongful loss and actions prejudicial to good order and military discipline, sources in the Northern Command revealed.
There are three charges against the JCO. One of the officers was commanding the battalion concerned, while the other, who later became the CO of another unit, was then his second-in-command.
The sources said the two officers had been charged with throwing the ammunition into the Indus between September 2003 and July 2005 and failing to take any action to resolve discrepancy regarding handing over-taking over of ammunition between their battalion and the previous battalion station there.
The Army had constituted two courts of inquiry (COI) into the matter. The first COI, ordered on August 22, 2005 by Commander of a mountain brigade, Brig R.K. Rana, however, was set aside for technical inconsistencies. The second COI, ordered on December 8, 2005 by the GOC 8 Mountain Division, was presided over by commander of an artillery brigade, Brig Ravi Verman.
Based upon the findings and recommendations of the second COI, the Army decided to order a court martial, following which the accused officers were attached to 121 Brigade.
The sources said during the COI, the accused officers maintained that the markings on the ammunition boxes did not pertain to their units.
They also maintained that they had not taken over the said ammunition on their charge from the units they had replaced. When the handing-over was taking place, the area was under heavy Pakistani fire. Further, the ammunition recovered was of 1969-1999 vintage.
