Ex-Army chief’s family alleges trespass

Agencies/New Delhi

High drama was witnessed at the residence of former Army chief Gen VK Singh here yesterday after an official went there purportedly to remove the Army’s telephone exchange but his family alleged that it was an attempt to plant snooping bugs.

The major of the Signals Regiment was “detained” by the family members who called the media to the scene in Mandir Marg in Delhi Cantonment at around 2pm.

They linked it to the withdrawal of the Z-plus security to Gen Singh, who has been at loggerheads with establishment for over a year following controversy related to his age issue.

Gen Singh’s family members claimed that Major R Vikram from the first Signals Regiment entered their house without prior permission and may have been trying to bug their telephones.

“We found him (the major) at the house. They (team) could not give any reasonable logic for being here. They had no valid documents. They may have come to bug the phone. We detained him. He revealed his identity as Maj R Vikram from the first Signals Regiment,” said Gen Singh’s lawyer Vishwajeet Singh.

Claiming that the Army major and his team had “some cards with them,” he said, “Recently they have withdrawn security and now this has happened. There could be something big.”

Army sources admitted that the exchange was being removed from the former Army chief’s residence as part of the withdrawal of Z-plus security category with effect from last November.

The Army dismissed the allegations of a snooping attempt.