LI Network
Published on: 02 September 2023 at 15:15 IST
The Indian Army has initiated General Court Martial proceedings against a Colonel who formerly served as the head of the 4 Corps Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (CISU).
The Colonel is facing accusations related to financial fraud during his tenure as the Commanding Officer of the military intelligence unit.
The charges against him include acts of omission and commission in the hiring of civilian vehicles for intelligence-gathering operations between May 2019 and March 2021. He faces two charges under Section 52(f) of the Army Act, pertaining to intent to defraud, and one charge under Section 63, concerning acts prejudicial to good order and discipline.
The specific allegations against the Colonel involve the preparation of fake invoices and the forging of signatures on documents to falsely indicate the hiring of civilian vehicles that were not actually used for military purposes.
This encompasses fraudulent Civil Hired Transport (CHT) indents and fictitious Car Diaries that recorded vehicle usage.
In his defense, the Colonel has asserted that his unit faced limitations in gathering intelligence due to the insufficient number of government vehicles allocated to them. He argued that the civilian-hired vehicles were solely intended for intelligence operations within the Corps zone.
Additionally, he raised concerns that Corps Headquarters officers had misappropriated many assigned vehicles for administrative and personal use, contrary to policy directives.
Previous inquiries, including a Board of Officers inquiry and a one-man inquiry, did not yield conclusive evidence of misconduct. Subsequently, a Court of Inquiry was convened based on an anonymous complaint, but it failed to produce evidence regarding an associated accusation of motorcycle purchase.
Following these proceedings, disciplinary actions through Summary of Evidence and now a General Court Martial were initiated after the Colonel was posted out of the 4 CISU.
