CBI asks army chief to give more details on letter to PM, bribery allegations

New Delhi, Mar.31 (ANI): Apparently unconvinced by the information provided by the Chief of Army Staff, General V.K.Singh, about his letter to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on the issue of defence procurements, as also on his charge that an ex-lieutenant general had offered him a bribe in exchange for sanctioning approval for 600 sub-standard army trucks, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly asked General Singh for further clarification.

Though no case has been registered yet on General Singh's allegations, the CBI has revealed that it may write to him or meet him next week to seek more information.

General VK Singh had on Friday replied to the CBI and confirmed the bribe offer by a lobbyist to clear the supply of a tranche of sub-standard vehicles for the Army. General Singh also said that he will give more details soon.

Surprisingly, no bribe amount has been mentioned in the complaint by General Singh.

General Singh had made the allegation in an interview with The Hindu newspaper, forcing the Defence Minister, A.K.Antony, to order a CBI inquiry.

The army chief has said that he was offered a bribe of Rs.14 crore in the latter half of 2010, which he verbally reported to Antony. The latter then told the former to take action, but General Singh then said that he did not wish to pursue the matter further.

The Defence Ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation.

General Singh and the government have both denied reports of rift between them.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: "There is no fiasco, it has been explained by the Defence Minister on the floor of the House."

General Singh is on record as saying that there are rogue elements in the army who are trying to create a rift between the government and the army. (ANI)