17 Indian Army officers booked in recruitment scam

NEW DELHI: The CBI conducted searches at 30 locations across 13 cities in connection with a case against 23 people, including five Lieutenant Colonels, two Majors and others, for their alleged involvement in a recruitment scam in the Army, foreign media reported.

The case involving 17 Army officers and personnel has been registered on a complaint from the Defence Ministry’s Integrated Headquarters, alleging that bribes were received for the selection of officers and other ranks through the Service Selection Board (SSB).

“Searches were conducted at 30 places in Delhi, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Bareilly; Kapurthala and Bathinda; Kaithal and Palwal in Haryana; Jaipur; Guwahati, Jorhat and Chirgaon in Assam and Visakhapatnam,” said a CBI official. The FIR identifies Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh of the Base Hospital at Delhi Cantonment as the middleman. He allegedly sought the assistance of Lt. Col. MVSNA Bhagwan of the Army Air Defence Corps, who is currently on a study leave in Visakhapatnam, in helping some candidates clear SSB.