BANGALORE/NEW DELHI: A day after General V K Singh stepped down as Army chief, Bangalore-based defence public sector unit BEML served a legal notice on him asking him to apologize for alleged defamatory statements against the company and its products. An unperturbed Gen Singh refused to back down, and dismissed any possibility of him apologizing for his remarks about Tatra and Armoured Recovery Vehicles supplied by BEML.
BEML said Gen Singh had made "false and motivated" allegations against the company. "Legal notice has been issued today. If he does not apologize, we may file a defamation suit against Gen V K Singh," BEML chairman and managing director V R S Natarajan told reporters in Bangalore.
"The former Army chief has made some allegations against BEML. As the CEO of the company, I deny them as absolutely false, motivated, damaging and defamatory," Natarajan said. He said the delay in issuing a legal notice was because of the consultations with the legal team.
There was also no indication that BEML's action was orchestrated from New Delhi by the government, which had several tough moments during the tenure of Gen Singh as the Army chief.
Gen Singh had alleged in March that he was offered Rs 14 crore in bribe to clear the purchase of 600 Tatra trucks from BEML. He had said that the bribe was offered by Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh on behalf of Ravi Rishi, whose Tatra Sipox UK supplies the trucks to BEML, which in turn sells it to the Army. Based on Gen Singh's statements, the CBI has filed a preliminary enquiry against Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, Ravi Rishi and others.
Gen Singh also repeatedly spoke in public about the quality of Tatra trucks and ARVs supplied by BEML. However, the BEML leadership argued that it had not received a single letter from the Army talking about the standard of Tatra trucks.
Maintaining his strident stand on the issue, Gen Singh on Friday said he would not apologize to BEML. "Apology for what, I would like to ask Natarajan that. I have not alleged anything, I have just stated some facts," Gen Singh said. "Natarajan has been there for more than 12 years with BEML. He should be knowing how things are run in BEML," he added.
Gen Singh said the issue was with the CBI, and the truth in the matter would emerge. "I am quite sure that he (Natarajan) is motivated to file all kinds of things against me. What are the facts are known to him and now to the CBI," he said.
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