Recruitment rip-off: CBI books 17 Army officers together with 5 Lt Cols

The CBI has booked 17 Army officers together with 5 officers of Lt Col rank, and 6 non-public individuals in reference to alleged irregularities in recruitment for the armed forces.
The officers have been charged with corruption. The company carried out searches at 30 areas throughout the nation on Monday.
The senior officers booked by the CBI are Lt Col MVSNA Bhagwan of the Army Air Defence Corps; Lt Col Surender Singh of Service Selection Centre, Kapurthala; Lt Col Y S Chauhan of 6 Mountain Division Ordnance Unit, Bareilly; Lt Col Sukhdev Arora, Joint Director, DG Recruiting, New Delhi; Lt Col Vinay, Group Testing Officer (GTO), Selection Centre South, Bengaluru; and Major Bhavesh Kumar, GTO, Selection Centre North, Kapurthala.
Lt Col MVSNA Bhagwan is alleged to be the mastermind of the recruitment racket, sources mentioned. Several lower-ranking Army officers and kin of the accused officers have additionally been booked.
“Searches were conducted today at 30 places including Base Hospital, Cantonment, other Army establishments, civilian areas covering 13 cities, viz. Kapurthala, Bathinda, Delhi, Kaithal, Palwal, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Jorhat and Chirangon, which led to recovery of several incriminating documents. The documents so recovered during searches are being scrutinized,” a CBI spokesperson mentioned.
The CBI FIR relies on a grievance from Brigadier (Vigilance) V Okay Purohit, alleging that on February 28, 2021, an enter was obtained concerning the alleged involvement of serving personnel in accepting bribes for clearance of assessment medical examination of quickly rejected officer candidates on the Base Hospital in New Delhi.
The grievance acknowledged that Lt Col Bhagwan, presently on research depart, and Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh have been concerned in looking for gratification from potential officer candidates at SSB centres, sources mentioned.

“Indian Army has zero tolerance towards corrupt practices in the recruitment process for selection of suitable candidates for Indian Army. Based on a proactive operation by Army intelligence agencies, a case of possible malpractice in selection procedures at a Services Selection Centre has come to light. Since the scope of investigation involves multiple agencies including civil entities, Indian Army has decided to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation,” the Army mentioned in a press release.
According to the grievance, Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh sought help from Lt Col Bhagwan for SSB exams “in lieu for money” and “touted aspiring candidates” to him.
Kuldeep Singh additionally allegedly accepted “monetary gratification” from Havaldar Pawan Kumar for number of his son within the Service Selection Board. The FIR, primarily based on an investigation performed by the Army, additionally cited proof within the type of monetary transactions among the many accused, and video footage of packages being exchanged.
Bhagwan can also be alleged to have accepted “undisclosed amount of cash” for number of Lt Navjot Kanwar.
Lt Col Surender Singh is alleged to have “accepted bribe for selection of 10-15 candidates”. Cash transactions for these bribes, the FIR has alleged, have been dealt with by his brother-in-law Bhupender Bajaj, who’s a resident of Palam Vihar in Delhi. He too has been named as an accused within the FIR.
Major Bhavesh Kumar has been accused of accepting bribes for 10-11 candidates, whereas Lt Navjot Singh is alleged to have paid a bribe of Rs 10 lakh for his choice to Lt Col Bhagwan via Naib Subedar Kuldeep Singh.
Lt Col Vinay is alleged to have approached Lt Col Surender Singh for number of some candidates. The names of Lt Col Chauhan and Lt Col Arora got here up through the interrogation of Lt Col Surender Singh.
The grievance additionally mentions six extra officers together with Major Amit Fagna, who allegedly assisted rejected candidates in clearing the medical board.