Army, Navy close ranks in Adarsh email chain

The Adarsh scam has forced the Army and Navy officers, otherwise known to be extremely tight-lipped about any issue involving the forces, to drop their guard. Mirror has accessed a chain of angry emails being circulated among serving and retired officers, mostly ‘coursemates’ of retired Major General TK Kaul or officers who’ve served under him, calling him “the kingpin of the conspiracy as Sub Area Commander” .

Over a 100 of Kaul’s course mates and juniors are said to have connected through the email chain.
Elaborating on the controversy, an exserviceman and a course-mate of one of the officials named in the scam, questions in his email how Kaul returned on a promotion within one year as General Officer Commanding ( GOC) Maharashtra and Goa (M&G ) Area. This, he writes, “is most unheard of.”

The officer also writes how “the file then moved to Pune – Lt Gen Sihota, a beneficiary , then to Delhi, Vice chief of army staff (VCOAS) Lt Gen Shantanu Chaudhary, a beneficiary (both are my coursemates), and the COAS Gen NC Vij, also a beneficiary.”

While demanding a trial of the tainted officials for criminal conspiracy and breach of trust, the email also tries to establish a link between all 100-odd allottees. “One would have thought that flats get booked within a few minutes of the scheme being announced... how did it accommodate every GOC M&G Area for the period 1999 to 2010?” it questions.
Another post on the email chain is from a war veteran who writes: “Experiencing the events of the past few days has left most of us – serving and veterans – helpless, giving a new meaning to our years of military service in Tagore’s words: “Where the mind is never clear and the head abjectly bowed... ” Another official expresses disgust at how nobody in the system was willing to put their foot down.

There are also those who believe that the offer by ex-chiefs to return the controversial flats is only “an attempt to avoid a probe into their scheming operation... and disloyalty to the nation and in particular the men in uniform .”
An ex serviceman, who fought in Kargil and was forwarded the chain email told Mirror on the condition of anonymity, “It is not often that servicemen express outrage in this fashion. But then, the admirals and generals involved need to know that they’ve earned the rest of us a bad name and nothing can redeem them of their wrongdoing. Also the idea is also to tell the younger lot that they will be held accountable if they indulge in such activities.”

Capt Manohar Nambiar, Chief Public Relations Officer (Defence) said, “The veracity of these emails and their content will have to be assessed. Only then the respective forces can decide if any action is to be taken.”

CBI BEGINS INQUIRY

The CBI has begun its preliminary inquiry into the Adarsh scam following a complaint filed by the Ministry of Defence at New Delhi. The outcome of the enquiry will decide the future course of CBI action in the scam.

The MoD complaint is regarding irregularities in issuance of a no-objection certificate and subsequent allotment of land to Adarsh CHS and certain mandatory clearances obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forests on certain commitments.