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The army court of inquiry has summoned retired Major General S P Murgai, a key figure in the expose on corruption in defence deals by tehelka.com, to appear before it next week, army sources said.
Murgai, who retired recently as additional director general, quality assurance, at Army Headquarters, is reportedly missing since the expose.
Murgai was used by the tehelka.com sting team to gain access to key officers dealing with armament procurement at Army Headquarters.
He also accompanied the team to a meeting with former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly at former defence minister George Fernandes's official residence.
The three-member court of inquiry headed by Lieutenant General S K Jain has issued summons to Maj Gen Murgai, which was served to his wife at their Vasant Vihar residence, army sources said.
Maj Gen Murgai has reportedly been missing since March 16, when the tehelka.com team uncovered its expose on bribe-taking in defence deals.
Though the court of inquiry has no power to issue summons to civilians, it has, under the Army Act, asked even retired army personnel to appear before it to depose under oath, the sources said.
Murgai's deposition will be crucial to the case, the sources said, adding that they were confident the officer would voluntarily appear before the court.
The court, after studying the tehelka.com tapes and collecting detailed defence statements from the suspended additional director general, weapons and equipment, Major General P S K Choudhary, and four other senior officers, has also completed interrogating the tehelka.com sting duo of Aniruddha Bahal and Samuel Mathews.
It has also allowed five army officers -- Maj Gen Choudhary, Maj Gen Ahluwalia, Maj Gen Satnam Singh, Brigadier Iqbal Singh and Colonel Anil Sehgal -- to cross examine Bahal and Mathews as stipulated under the army rules.
The officers have been attached without work at Army HQ pending the inquiry.
Meanwhile, the parallel one-member defence ministry fact-finding inquiry, after completing its perusal of the tehelka.com tapes, has asked four officials -- Additional Secretary L M Mehta, Ordnance Factory Board Staff Officer H C Pant, Assistant Financial Adviser Narendra Singh and Office Assistant P Sasi -- to file details before it.
The inquiry, being conducted by Chief Vigilance Officer R P Bagai has been asked to submit its report to Defence Minister Jaswant Singh within a month.
PTI
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