Court rejects plea to cancel ex-army chief's bail

Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja dismissed the application seeking cancellation of the bail granted to the former army chief and other four senior army officers, saying that the appeal was without merit.

The court also imposed fine of Rs.500 on Tejinder Singh and directed him to deposit it in the Delhi Legal Services Authority.

The court allowed exemption from personal appearance to the four accused serving officials of the army with the condition that they would have to mark their presence at the time of the framing of charges.

The court was hearing a defamation case filed by Tejinder Singh against former army chief Gen. V.K. Singh and four other army officers for allegedly making libellous statements against him to the media and accusing him of bribery in an all-terrain truck purchase deal of the army.

The court granted bail to the former army chief and the other four officers in July.

Tejinder Singh alleged that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him.

Gen. V.K. Singh had disclosed in a press release that he was offered a kickback of Rs.14 crore by a retired defence officer in exchange for clearing a tranche of 600 all-terrain Tatra trucks for the army, which he described as sub-standard.

Denying all the allegations, Tejinder Singh had said that in the press release of March 5 the army headquarters publicly accused him and a group of serving officers of the military intelligence of conspiring to create a rift between the army chief and the government.u00a0