Last week, the current chief of army staff Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag accused his predecessor Gen (retd) VK Singh of trying to stall his promotion on “false, baseless and imaginary allegations of lapses with mala fide intent” in May 2012.

In his affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, Gen Suhag says that VK Singh, as the chief of army staff, sought to “victimise” him “with the sole purpose of denying me promotion to the appointment of army commander.” It was filed in response to a petition moved by Lt Gen (retd) Ravi Dastane who alleged “favouritism” in Suhag’s selection as army chief.

Here is the story behind this “War of Generals”:

This complex affair dates back to 2012 when Suhag was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GoC-in-C) of the Dimapur-based 3 Corps in 2012. During that time, allegations were made against the 3 Corps intelligence and surveillance unit of a triple murder of militants on December 21-22.

A military intelligence official, Maj T Ravi Kumar, then wrote a letter to Suhag accusing colleagues of his intelligence unit of the triple murder of suspected militants in the unit’s officers’ mess. Suhag was stuck between all this as a person trying to save the murderers.

Suhag, in his later response said he was not even on duty on that day as he was on annual leave and rejoined duty on December 26 and Ravi Kumar claimed that Col Gopinath Shreekumar, commanding officer of the intelligence unit, was behind the killings, which were aided by Maj Rubeena Kaur Keer and Maj Nector (of 21 PARA-SF, Jorhat, who was then on probation to Intelligence Corps).

A copy of the letter was marked to Lt Gen Bikram Singh, then the eastern army commander, and VK Singh, then the army chief.

Although the army headquarters in Delhi issued explicit instructions for an investigation, only a one-man inquiry led by a brigadier was set up. This is where the mystery deepens. The brigadier was stranded as a junior officer of Suhag doing his job of inquiring the issue.

Not long after, VK Singh issued a show cause notice to Suhag halting his promotion until the time that the allegations against him were cleared.

Due to pending cases on him, Suhag could not be made the General. It is when Bikram Singh leaped for the rank.

When the government cleared the way for General Bikram Singh as army chief in 2012, trouble started for Lt-Gen Dalbir Singh. In March 2012, just two months before his retirement, General V.K. Singh asked CBI to probe Lt-Gen Dalbir Singh for alleged corruption in 2010 while he headed the highly classified Special Frontier Force (SFF). CBI refused to entertain the case stating it had already been inquired into by the cabinet secretariat under which SFF operates.

The sole purpose behind this scuffle by Gen VK Singh was the principal beneficiary Lt Gen Ashok Singh, the then Southern Army Commander whose son Anirudh married General V.K. Singh’s daughter Yogja.

General V.K. Singh’s resignation later grew louder when Captain Amarinder Singh, senior Congress MP from Amritsar, called Singh’s allegations “a disgrace”. “To call a next Chief of Army Staff a criminal and those working under him in the forces dacoits is not acceptable.”

An embarrassed BJP Government rushed in to repair the damage caused by the loose tweet and the then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha that the appointment of Lt-Gen Dalbir Singh as army chief was final.

Jaitley’s statement brought closure to an issue that General V.K. Singh had done his best to highlight and, some say, scuttle. In April, while he was still a BJP candidate for the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency, he opposed the UPA government’s decision to appoint Lt-Gen Dalbir Singh as army chief-designate because it violated the election code of conduct; chief-designates are appointed between two and three months before the incumbent retires. The Election Commission eventually green-lighted the appointment on May 13, clearing the decks for Lt-Gen Dalbir Singh to take over when General Bikram Singh retired on July 31.

It must be noted that, VK Singh had levelled allegations on both the incoming and outgoing Generals. While Gen Suhag was accused of saving officers who did a triple murder, General Bikram Singh found himself embroiled in an alleged fake encounter case in Jammu and Kashmir dating back to 2001 when he was a brigadier.

In February 2012, months before he moved against Dalbir Singh, V K Singh had lost his legal battle on the age row in Supreme Court which held that the government’s decision on his date of birth would apply to his service matters, prompting him to withdraw his petition.

Later on, Suhag was made the Vice Chief of the Army Staff and eventually the COAS. His promotion as GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, with effect from June 15, 2012 was cleared by General Bikram Singh who reversed the DV (Discipline and Vigilance) ban after V K Singh retired on May 31, 2012.

This delayed promotion, after reserving the vacant Army Commander’s post for 15 days, was challenged by Lt-Gen Ravi Dastane, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, in the Supreme Court. He contended he was eligible to be Army Commander but was denied the opportunity by General Bikram Singh who favoured Dalbir Singh despite the latter being under a DV ban at the relevant time.

The issue have ended in public acrimony, ignominious retreats for the general, and an embarrassment of the kind the Indian Army has never seen in its history.

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