Army orders probe into rift between two generals

NEW DELHI: In a rare move, the Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry to look into a lingering rift between two generals of the Jaipur-headquartered South Western Command over a range of issues relating to the overall functioning of the crucial formation, people familiar with the matter said.

Chief of the command Lt Gen Alok Kler and his deputy Lt Gen KK Repswal are at loggerheads for the past several months over the role, charter and duties of various appointments as well as on running of the command that takes care of security along the borders in Rajasthan and Punwas jab. It is learnt that Lt Gen Kler had made a representation to the Chief of Army Staff on the conduct of Lt Gen Repswal. A similar complaint was made by Lt Gen Repswal against his senior.

The Army headquarters tasked Lt Gen IS Ghuman, the Central Army Commander with conducting the probe, the people said. They said Lt Gen Ghuman

examining the allegations and counter allegations by both the generals and will submit a detailed report based on the investigation. “Any further step will be based on the report,” said one of the people.

Around September last, Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane had asked then Vice Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen SK Saini to look into the issue. Lt Gen Saini retired on January 31.

Lt Gen Kler was commissioned into the armoured corps in June 1982. He commanded an armoured regiment and armoured Brigade in Western Sector. Lt Gen Kler is due for retirement in March while Lt Gen Repswal is being transferred to Kolkata-headquartered Eastern Command.

KOCHI: A court here on Wednesday granted bail to suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar in connection with the dollar smuggling case, which came to light during the probe into the gold smuggling racket in Kerala in which he is an accused.

The additional chief judicial magistrate court (Economic Offences) granted bail to the former Principal Secretary of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after directing him to furnish a bond of ₹2 lakh, two sureties for the like amount and appear before the investigating officers here every Monday. The customs had arrested him in the dollar case on January23.

Sivasankar is in judicial custody since the past 98 days following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Customs in the cases relating to the sensational gold smuggling through diplomatic channel, money trail and dollar smuggling.

Earlier, he was given bail in two cases and the dollar case was the only one pending against him.

The dollar case relates to alleged smuggling of USD 1,90,000 (equivalent to ₹1.30 crore) by a former finance head of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat in Oman. Prime accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh and Sarith P S are also allegedly involved in the dollar case and had already been arrested by the Customs.

CHIEF OF THE COMMAND LT GEN ALOK KLER AND HIS DY LT GEN KK REPSWAL ARE AT LOGGERHEADS FOR THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS