NEW DELHI: The government on Monday ordered a CBI inquiry into the allegation made by Army Chief Gen V K Singh that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe by a lobbyist.

A CBI probe was ordered by Defence Minister A K Antony in the wake of the Army Chief's allegation, Defence Ministry officials said.

Terming Gen Singh's allegations as "serious", Antony told reporters outside Parliament, "We have to handle it...I have taken action."

When asked if the Army Chief had informed him about the bribe offer, he said, "Parliament is in session."

In an interview to a newspaper, the Army Chief alleged that an equipment lobbyist offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, which he had reported to the Defence Minister.

He said the lobbyist offered him the bribe in order to have a tranche of 600 sub-standard vehicles of a particular make cleared for purchase.

"Just imagine, one of these men had the gumption to walk up to me and tell me that if I cleared the tranche, he would give me Rs 14 crore. He was offering a bribe to me, to the Army Chief. He told me that people had taken money before me and they will take money after me," Gen Singh said.

Reacting to the allegation leveled by Gen Singh, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, "Both the Defence Minister and the Army Chief should have acted immediately.

"It is a criminal act and nobody should be allowed to go scot free after offering a bribe," he told reporters outside Parliament.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said, "Whenever such allegation is leveled by any senior official, the government makes sure that it is clarified."

"He (Gen Singh) has said a very serious thing in his statement and every thing should be made clear in black and white," she said.

On the statement of Gen Singh, former Army chief Deepak Kapoor said, "It is below my dignity to comment on the allegation." — PTI

Bhubaneswar: The Italian still held captive by Maoists in Odisha is in good health, but the government should fulfil their demands - including banning tourist visits to tribal areas - to secure his release, the rebels said Monday, a day after freeing another Italian.

In an interview to local television channel OTV aired Monday, Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda who claimed responsibility for the March 14 abduction of both tourists said Italian Bosusco Paolo would be released only after the rebels feel the government is serious about their demands.

Saying Paolo was in good health, Panda assured he would not come to any harm.

Panda, who also calls himself 'Sunil', said his cadres Sunday released Italian Claudio Colangelo on humanitarian ground and as a goodwill gesture following an appeal from a cross-section of society.

He said the rebels wanted to send a positive message by releasing one of the hostages and all the demands made by the rebels were genuine.

Panda said he wants a ban on tourist visits to tribal areas.

"Foreigners or Indians, nobody should be allowed to visit tribal areas. we should not treat tribals like wildlife...a monkey or a chimpanzee in zoo," Panda said. "We have exposed the government's policy which brings in tourists who treat tribals as commodities for tourism," he added.

Panda also said the Maoists are not indulging in violence on their own. "We are not doing violence of our own. The government is forcing us to do that. The government wants us to stay us in the forests because we are fighting for the poor," he said.

The guerrillas had abducted Paolo, 54, and Claudio Colangelo, 61 from a forested area on the border of Ganjam and Kandhamal districts March 14. On Saturday, the rebels also kidnapped ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator and a popular tribal leader Jhina Hikaka, 37, in a hilly area of Koraput district.

While the rebels Sunday released Colangelo, the other Italian and the BJD legislature are still in their captivity.

However, Panda who claims to be the organising committee secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), said he is not responsible for the abduction of the legislature as it has not been done by his group. — IANS