M A I N   N E W S

One-year jail for Maj-General
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 2
A General Court Martial (GCM) today sentenced Major-Gen P.S.K. Choudhary to one year’s rigorous imprisonment besides being cashiered from service for his alleged involvement in the Tehelka scam.

He is the highest ranking Army officer to have been tried for professional impropriety in the episode, which had rocked the nation after a sting operation carried by news portal tehelka.com in 2001 had caught senior politicians, Defence Ministry bureaucrats and Army officers on tape, allegedly demanding and accepting bribes.

The sentence, under provisions of the Army Act, is subject to confirmation. Given the accused’s rank, the confirming authority in this case is the Chief of Army Staff. The seven-member GCM, presided over by Director-General, Air Defence Artillery, Lieut-Gen C. S. Chima, had pronounced the accused guilty of all charges levied against him yesterday, but had deferred the sentencing for today.

The trial, which began at Ferozepore in May, 2004, concluded today. General Choudhary will remain in military custody till the sentence is confirmed and is expected to be moved to Ambala. He was placed under close arrest after the sentence was announced. The further course of action would depend upon the confirming authority’s directions on the sentence.

Normally, the pronouncement of the verdict by a GCM and the sentencing is done on the same day, though the two aspects of the judicial process are considered deliberated upon and announced separately. In fact, there is a Supreme Court ruling that announcement of the verdict and the sentencing by courts should be done on separate days.

Though General Choudhary, who was serving as Additional Director-General, Weapons and Equipment at Army Headquarters, when the scam broke, had retired from service subsequently, he could still be tried by a court martial under the Army Act. The relevant clauses subjecting him to disciplinary procedure, sources said, would have been invoked at the time he was still in service. Under the Army Act, a person can be brought for trial before a military court even if an offence by him is discovered after he has retired from service.

Since General Choudhary had retired at the time of conviction, the sentence of cashiering, if confirmed, would imply that all pensionary and service benefits, including canteen and medical facilities, would be forfeited.

Video tapes secretly shot by Tehelka operatives posing as arms dealers, allegedly show him demanding a gold chain and Rs 1 lakh. He was tried on two charges of demanding illegal gratification and on one charge of interacting with representatives of foreign firms without obtaining proper approval.

Though he had publically admitted his guilt before going on trial, he had maintained during the course of judicial proceedings that the tapes shot by Tehelka, which were produced before the GCM as evidence, were doctored, sources said.

Among the witnesses who deposed before the court were Mathews Samuel, who had executed the sting operation, secretary of the erstwhile Phukan Commission of Inquiry, Mr S. K. Dasgupta, who is in possession of the original tapes and forensic reports on the tapes’ examination by a London-based firm. A former assistant in the Ordnance Directorate at Army Headquarters, P. Sashi had also deposed before the court. Sashi was working under Col Anil Sahgal, who was cashiered and awarded four years RI in the same case earlier this year. Another officer being tried by the GCM in the same case, Brig Iqbal Singh had also deposed before the court.

4-year jail for Col confirmed

The sentence of cashiering and four years’ rigorous imprisonment awarded to Col Anil Sahgal by a GCM trying him for professional impropriety in the Tehelka case, has been confirmed by Chief of the Army Staff. He was found guilty on four of the five charges of corruption and moral turpitude and acts prejudicial to good order and military discipline in January, 2005.

The sentence’s promulgation orders were issued to the accused’s commanding officer by Headquarters, Western Command, about a week ago, sources here said. The promulgation would entail the details of the judicial proceedings being read out to the accused in the presence of his commanding officer and stripping of all badges of rank and regimental insignia at a parade specially organised for the purpose. There after the accused would be handed over to the civilian authorities.