A senior officer of the Indian Army, hailing from Kerala, is being illegally detained in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital for pointing fingers at corruption involving higher-ups, his relatives have alleged.
Lieutenant Colonel Arun Kumar attached to the HQ 374 Composite Artillery Brigade C/o 56 APO and stationed at Nasirabad in Ajmer, Rajasthan, was forcibly admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Military Hospital in Jodhpur more than a month ago. Lately, he has been transferred to a military hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, after he filed a complaint with the Jodhpur Police Commissioner, said his brother K Ajan, who is an advocate. A copy of the statement given by Lt Col Arun Kumar to the police is in the possession of Express.
Arun, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, has also sent a legal notice to the Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh; the Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Services (Army); the General Officer
Commanding, 41 Artillery Division, C/o 56 APO and the commanding officers of the military hospitals in Jodhpur and Nasirabad. The copies have been sent to the Additional Director General, Additional Directorate General Discipline and Vigilance, Adjutants General Branch, Integrated HQ and the Chief Secretary, Ministry of Defence. Commissioned into the Indian Army in 1981, Arun has been serving the present unit since January 2013. As per the statement given to the police, Arun has been reporting “certain cases of dishonesty and moral turpitude of senior officers causing loss to state, and human rights violation of soldiers” since March this year.
This is not the first instance in which this Army officer is entering the bad books of his superiors, his relatives said. The alleged persecution began in 2001 after he reported irregularities to the tune of Rs 6 lakh in a CSD canteen audit in one of the infantry divisions. At the time, he was serving with the HQ 24 Artillery Brigade. His family members had complained to the government that a Brigadier-rank officer had attempted to murder him.