Political parties have demanded a probe into the destruction of documents of the Technical Services Division (TSD) of the Army under the watch of the former Army Chief, General V. K. Singh, who is a Minister in the Narendra Modi government.
Manish Tewari of the Congress said the matter required a Supreme Court-monitored investigation implemented by an authority outside the government. “The averments made in the >news report by The Hindu are very serious. The activities of the TSD were suspect in the first place. It has been alleged that the TSD was used to spy on senior officials of the government. If those activities have now been compounded with the destruction of data pertaining to its existence and the functions it carried out, the matter needs to be probed by an authority outside the government and monitored by the Supreme Court. Something illegal like this should not be allowed to be buried in such a cavalier manner,” he said.
Central Committee member Hannan Mollah said Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh should not have treated his post as his “personal fiefdom” and destroyed the intelligence inputs.
As others demand probe, BJP maintains stoic silence
As political parties demanded a probe into the destruction of documents of the Technical Services Division (TSD) of the Army under the former Army Chief, General V. K. Singh, the BJP maintained a stoic silence, allowing Gen. Singh to make his own statements defending his conduct. “The party will not comment on this, the minister is capable of defending himself against the charge,” said a senior party leader.
In his comments to Asian News International (ANI), Gen. Singh tried to question the integrity of the reporter and denied that the documents had been destroyed. He said: “If you are trying to slander an organisation (TSD) that works in the national interest, then I question your patriotism.” Documents on which the story is based have subsequently been uploaded on The Hindu’s website for perusal by the public.
CPI(M) Central Committee member Hannan Mollah called for an investigation into the matter. He said an impartial inquiry could figure out what information the former Army Chief had collected and why he had destroyed it. “There may be some ulterior motives,” he said. “Whatever information he has collected in his official capacity belongs to the nation. Therefore, he should have handed it over to the government before leaving office,” he said.
