Next in line Army Chief Lt Gen Bikram Singh slapped with PIL

New Delhi, Apr 5: With the Army Chief Gen VK Singh and the Defence Ministry in a virtual face-off over the

report on the army spook story and other matters, the next in line Lt Gen Bikram Singh is also facing serious trouble. Bikram Singh will be the next Army Chief when VK Singh retires from the high profile post in May 2012.

The trouble for the next Army Chief came when a group of retired officers and bureaucrats moved the Supreme Court challenging Bikram Singh's appointment as the next Army Chief after it was alleged that he was involved in a fake encounter in Jammu and Kashmir in 2001.

Lt Gen Bikram Singh is currently the Eastern Army Commander and is touted to succeed General VK Singh as the next Army Chief. The petitioners against the Lt Gen Singh includes former Navy Chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas and former Chief election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy. Their argument to file the PIL being that Gen Singh was involved in the fake encounter case and the same case is pending in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Among the other names in the petitioners are veteran journalist Sam Rajapa and social activist MG Devasahayam. They allege that Lt Gen Singh failed to take action against those officers who were involved in the sexual harassment and rape during their posting in Congo in 2008 as part of the UN peace-keeping mission.

Putting an end to the age row controversy after the Supreme Court verdict, the government had announced that Lt Gen Bikram Singh will be the next Army Chief.

OneIndia News