CBI books 5 Lt Cols in job scam

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 15

The CBI has booked five Lieutenant Colonels among 23 persons in an alleged Army recruitment scam and conducted searches at around 30 locations across the country.

CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said after receiving a complaint from the office of Additional Directorate General, Discipline & Vigilance, the agency booked 23 persons, including 17 Army officials and six private persons, on the allegations of bribery and irregularities in the recruitment of officers and personnel of other ranks through the Service Selection Board (SSB).

“The searches were conducted at 30 places, including Base Hospital in Delhi, other Army establishments, civilian areas covering 13 cities, among them Kapurthala, Bathinda, Delhi, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Jorhat and Chirangon,” the spokesperson said. He said the searches led to the recovery of incriminating documents, which were being scrutinised by the CBI officials.

Relatives of Army officers named too

The CBI has also named the relatives of some Army officers in the FIR

They include the wife and parents of a Major and the brother-in-law of a Lt Col

The Lieutenant-Colonels against whom the case was registered and whose names are mentioned in the CBI FIR are MVSNA Bhagwan, Surender Singh, Sukhdev Arora, Vinay and Navjot Singh Kanwar.

The other Army personnel who have been named in the FIR include Major Bhavesh Kumar, Major Amit Fagna, Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh, Havildar Pawan Kumar, Havildar Rajesh Kumar, Havildar Harpal Singh, Naik Parwinder Jeet Singh, Sepoy Rohit Kanwar, Cadet Hemant Dagar and Cadet Inderjeet.

The CBI also named the relatives of the Army officers as private persons in the FIR. They include Pragati Singh; Devyanim, Surender Singh, Usha Kumawat (wife, father and mother of Major Bhavesh Kumar) and Bhupender Bajaj (brother-in-law of Lt Col Surender Singh.