BIKANER: For the first time since the Samba case rocked the Indian army in the late “70s, a retired member of the army top brass has done on record to say that’ there, was foul play in the case. Speaking about the main accused in the case, Lt-Gen Chairman Singh said: When I met Captain Rath aur in custody, I had seen the sings of torture. This prompted me to go through the evidence against him. After this I was convinced that he may not have done what he was alleged to have.”
In 1979, even as Singh took over the command of 16 Corps of which the Samba Brigade is a part, officers were being implicated on the basis of forced confession. About the documents, Singh said, ‘I went through the cases and found notes on small slips mentioning trips by officers to Pakistan where they exchanged information for money. These notes were neither signed nor dated. Identities of the interrogators and those recording these statements were also not mentioned. I apprised the army commander of it and told that the information is not at all satisfactory and we can’t do anything based on them.”
Immediately after taking over, he found that the chain of command was broken as military intelligence was directly dealing with the men in his area. Over 20 officers were to be court martialled when Singh insisted that action against these officers should be taken only: with his. Consent, He said, “Till I took over, I felt the division commander or corps commander or the army commander had no knowledge about the actual case. The director of military intelligence was directly controlling the case from Delhi. I put an end to that.”
Singh’s initiative annoyed military intelligence. Subsequently, according to Singh, at a top level meeting in the army headquarters to decide the fate of over 20 cases, the judge advocate general pointed out that evidence against these officers was not sufficient. Singh, on his part, asked for all the key witnesses for a summary of the evidence and his demand was very reluctantly conceded by the military intelligence, among those who attended this meeting were the then army Chief General O.P. Malhotra, the adjutant general S.K. Sinha and the director, military intelligence Garhshankar.
Following this meeting, the main accused of the case, Major A.K. Rana was sent to Jammu. Singh Says: “My intention was to remove all fear on the part of the Person who was deposing and it came out that there was no case against the officers. So l wrote that. There is nothing against these officers except for very slight doubt in one case. A court martial was ordered. In the trial he was found to be innocent and he rejoined the army. If we had tried the others they would have been fired too.”
Incidentally, though these others officers should have been allowed to rejoin service, the army proceeded with administrative action and 11 others were dismissed under Section 18 that is under the doctrine of pleasure of the President, which according to the latest Supreme Court ruling is subject to judicial review.
Interestingly, Singh had known most of these officers when he was posted in the area earlier as general officer commanding of the Kangra division. About the case, he says, “I can understand one or two persons going astray buta whole lot taking to espionage and going to Pakistan like going to a cinema or a football match is hard to believe. [Knew these officers intimately and I was amazed that all of a sudden they were out under custody. One of them was Major S.P. Sharma, competent, loyal and thoroughly professional. I could not believe that a man of his calibre, integrity. And loyalty to the country and organization could have indulged in spying. When I met him I was convinced that he could not have been a spy. That is when I had the first inkling they this case was not right.
Though steps taken by Singh had no impact on his future career about why: this wrong could not be, corrected, Singh says, “I think through the army headquarters the defence ministry committed in Parliament that they had carried out a thorough investigation into the case and that is why it is different. cult for them to say that probably they had erred.”
But Singh suggests a future course of action. He says: “I personally feel that some apex court should thoroughly go through all the documents of the court martial. Probably they should hold proceedings in camera and give a verdict. This is a grave charge and Stays for ages. This will be fair the people who are bearing Stigma of being a spy for no fault of theirs.”
The Samba case officers and men. Recent revelation: carried by this paper indicate that the case was a frame up by all MI Directorate. Many of those Court martialed not only lost their Jobs but also underwent long prison terms.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 6, 1995
