Army chief meets AK Antony

New Delhi, Mar 7: Army Chief Gen V K Singh on Wednesday met Defence Minister A K Antony in his office amid controversy surrounding the clandestine tapping of some sensitive phones in the capital. It was not clear as to what exactly transpired at the one-on-one meeting between the two but it assumes significance as it came against the backdrop of the snooping controversy.

The defence minister was upset over the infighting in the army over such developments as it would impact the image and prestige of the force. The snooping has highlighted the differences within the army which blamed a retired Lt Gen, who earlier headed the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), for planting stories in the media in this regard.

The Army Headquarters had earlier this week issued a statement to allege that Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh along with "some disgruntled serving officers of the Military Intelligence" were behind planting stories in the media.

Tejinder Singh has refuted the charge and said that he will take legal action against the people accusing him of any wrongdoing. The army had alleged that Singh was behind the media report about mobile monitoring equipment.

The retired general was earlier questioned on the purchase of 'off-the-air monitoring system' without sanction by the technically empowered committee. It said Singh has also been an allottee in Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai.

PTI