23, including 7 army officers, named by CBI in bribes-for-recruitment case

Six Lieutenant Colonels and a Major of the Indian Army were among 23 people named by the CBI in an investigation into corruption involving recruitment to the force on Monday following searches in 30 places in 13 cities.
The accused include 17 army personnel in all and six others with “allegations pertaining to bribery and irregularities in recruitment of officers and other ranks through Service Selection Board”, the CBI said.

The agency said the case was registered based on a complaint from the office of Additional Directorate General, Discipline & Vigilance, Adjutant General’s Branch, Integrated HQ of Ministry of Defence (Army).

The CBI received a complaint last month that serving personnel were involved in accepting bribes for helping candidates clear medical exams at the Base Hospital in New Delhi.

One Lt Col Bhagwan of the Army Air Defence Corps, the alleged mastermind of the recruitment racket, is among those named, they said.

The complaint said that Lt Col Bhagwan, currently on study leave, and Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh also received kickbacks from potential officer candidates at SSB centres.

Searches were conducted at 30 places including Base Hospital, Cantonment, other army establishments, civilian areas covering 13 cities, the CBI said.

The locations searched include those in Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Kapurthala, Bathinda, Kaithal, Palwal, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Vishakhapatnam, Jorhat and Chirangon.
The searches led to the recovery of several incriminating documents which are being studied, the agency said.