MUMBAI: Retired Army officer Tejinder Singh, who has been accused by Army Chief V K Singh of offering a bribe of Rs 14 crore to him, has now been accused by a retired army officer and whistleblower in the Adarsh case of harassment.
Retired Major S K Lamba had played a key role in bringing the scam to light.
When Tejinder Singh was a Major-General and General Officer Commanding for Maharashtra and Goa during 2005-2007, he allegedly harassed Major Lamba by implicating him in false criminal cases with an objective to discourage him from digging information about Adarsh case.
It was only in 2010 that Major Lamba learned that Singh was also a beneficiary in the Adarsh scam as he was a member of the society and owned an apartment there. “The problem started following my first informal meeting with Mr Singh in which I had requested him to pursue the Adarsh building case and expose those responsible in the Army. I said to him in the belief that he was upright officer,” said Major Lamba.
In February 2006, Major Lamba was detained by Military Police personnel. “I could rescue myself from the situation only with the intervention of senior officers,” said Major Lamba.
The same day, Military Jawans lodge a non-cognisable offense with the Colaba police station. They accused Major Lamba of misbehaving with them. Two days later, an FIR was filed by the Army jawans in which Major Lamba has been accused of injuring one of the jawans in rash driving at US club. In February 2011, the trial court acquited Major Lamba of rash driving charges.
“The Army had even managed to produce fake medical certificates to implicate me,” said Major Lamba.
Major General Singh, who was also the chairman of the Club, had managed to suspend Major Lamba’s membership for six months on the charges of feeding stray dogs. “The membership was restored by the Bombay High Court in the first day of the hearing. The suit for `1 crore damages is still pending,” said Lamba.
The Army under Singh had even tried to have initiate proceedings against Lamba for “disorderly behaviour”. “All this harassment happened when Singh was GOC. All I can say that Singh is capable of going to any lengths by manipulating the system for achieving his goals. I am not surprised that Army Chief accused him of offering bribe,” said Lamba.