Monday, March 5, 2012

Army lashes out at disgruntled officers for maligning force

Vehemently denying the reports of Army assets being used for snooping of the Defence Minister, the Indian Army on Monday lashed out at “disgruntled officers” for spawning “mistrust” between the force and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Media reports have been doing rounds about cars mounted interceptor devices belonging to the Indian Army spying on Defence Minister AK Antony in the national capital. There were reports about Antony’s office being bugged and the needle of suspicion pointing towards Military Intelligence.

Clarifying its stand, the Indian Army termed the reports "maligning" the Army "a fabricated fiction". "People responsible are some disgruntled officers, retired and serving, whose sole aim is to create mistrust between the Army and MoD,” sources said.

Talking about the “bugging” of the Defence Minister the Army sources said that the Military Intelligence (MI) has the mandate to routinely debug the offices of senior functionaries of the MoD and the Army.  In a routine check, some abnormality was noticed in the Defence Minister’s office, which was brought to the notice of the Defence Secretary. Further checks carried out revealed that the voltage drop noticed was due to malfunctioning of the instrument. 

The Army also refuted the allegations of its interceptor units being used in the capital. “The Army does not carry out “of the air monitoring” but seeks the assistance of the IB (Intelligence Bureau), if it finds the need,” sources said. The monitoring equipment in the possession of the Signal Intelligence is deployed along the borders and in Counter Insurgency areas.  “This equipment is under the control of the Director General Defence Intelligence Agency (DGDIA) and not under the Military Intelligence,” sources added.  

Sources point out that a former DGDIA head against whom the Army had taken disciplinary action for purchasing the monitoring system without clearance from the Technically Empowered Committee, along with some “disgruntled” serving officers of the Military Intelligence are behind the “malicious” campaign against the force. The retired officer in question has also been allotted a flat in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai.


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