FIR mentions 4 BJP leaders
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 11: Army today completed preliminary inquiry into the allegations leveled by some contestants and forwarded by Deputy Commissioner Leh, Avny Lavasa regarding alleged tampering of service voters by the Army officers even as copy of the First Information Report (FIR) lodged by the police in famous Leh bribery case has mentioned four BJP leaders and not one as stated by the police earlier.
Lavasa, who also happens to be the District Election Officer (DEO) for Ladakh Parliam-entary constituency, which had gone to polls on May 6, has expressed satisfaction with the Army response.
Click here to see full copy of FIR & Document
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Army has conducted in-house inquiry into the allegations mentioned in the letter addressed to General Officer Commanding (GOC), 14 Corps, Leh by the Deputy Commissioner yesterday, and reverted to the DC today stating that no violation of any kind has been reported in the service voters.
Acknowledging Army inquiry report, Lavasa today wrote to US Mankotia, Colonel General Staff for General Officer Comman-ding, 14 Corps, headquartered at Leh, saying the contents of the (Army) letter are found to be satisfactory.
“Any further requirement will be communicated, if required,” she said.
Lavasa had yesterday shot off a letter to the GOC Leh saying there had been allegations leveled by candidates that the Army officers were suggesting preference to the service voters instead of handing over the ballot papers to them.
The letter had generated controversy with Army denying the charges saying they were being leveled to malign their image.
Meanwhile, copy of the FIR accessed by the Excelsior pertaining to Leh journalists’ bribery case by the BJP leaders, has mentioned four BJP leaders, three by names and another by his designation and not just one as stated earlier by the cops.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 171E and 171F RPC SVT 1989 and 154 CrPC.
The FIR has mentioned BJP State president without his name, BJP MLC Vikram Randhawa, Dr Narinder Singh, State general secretary and Dorje Angchok, district Leh BJP president.
However, the FIR didn’t mention name of Ravinder Raina, State BJP president.
The FIR has referred to the complaint received from Press Club Leh vice No. CCP/CCM/2/2019 dated 4/5/2019 and Indian National Congress Party, Leh unit regarding alleged distribution of packets of cash by the BJP leaders at a press conference held at Singge Palace on May 2 at 2 pm.
The FIR stated that the CCTV footage related to the incident was procured from the Manager Singge Palace hotel. Upon scrutiny of the footage, it was observed that a BJP leader was found handing over envelops to four journalists and another BJP leader was found accompanying him.
“At first, the journalists accepted the packet. However, after opening the packet one of the journalists returned the packet followed by others. Several BJP leaders including State president were watching the incident. The envelops were handed over by Vikram Randhawa in present of Narinder Singh and Dorje Angchok,” the FIR stated.
When approached for comments, SSP Leh Sargun Shukla said the FIR is matter of investigations.
“No names of the BJP leaders have been mentioned in the FIR,” she said.
Meanwhile, BJP State president, Ravinder Raina today strongly reacted to DC Leh Avny Lavasa’s letter to the Army Commander saying the Indian Army was highly professional and law abiding force, whose transparency and accountability has always been trusted and everybody has very high regards for the troops.
Taking the DC Leh to task, Raina said writing a letter to the Army Commander merely on the basis of complaint lodged by a political party was not good and the DC should have inquired the facts internally as her letter was being exploited to malign image of the Army.
The BJP president described the FIR as a political conspiracy and expressed confidence that facts will come out during investigations.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
