<p>The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) on Army Chief General V K Singh's complaint alleging that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by a retired officer to clear a tranche of "sub-standard" vehicles.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The CBI has registered a PE in a matter related to an alleged offer of bribe to the Chief of Army Staff by a retired army officer on behalf of a private person, in connection with procurement of vehicles by Indian Army. The incident had reportedly occurred in September, 2010," CBI spokesperson said here.<br /><br />A PE is formal initiation of probe before registering an FIR but during this phase the agency does not have powers to question, search or arrest. The agency had yesterday received a complaint from Gen Singh giving details of the alleged bribery offer made to him by retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, who has denied the charge terming it as absolutely false and concocted.<br /><br />After getting the legal opinion, the agency decided to proceed with a PE, the sources said. The CBI might convert the PE into an FIR if it finds prima-facie evidence of any alleged wrong-doing.<br /><br />The Army Chief had alleged that Tejinder Singh had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter he had reported to Defence Minister A K Antony, to clear purchase of nearly 600 all-terrain Tatra BEML trucks.<br /><br />Tejinder Singh has refuted the allegations and also slapped a defamation case against the Army Chief and other officers. <br /><br />The ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation made by the Army Chief. In the initial communication to the CBI, the Army Chief had said that there was a bribe offer from Tejinder Singh following which the CBI had asked him to submit detailed description of the incident, list of possible witnesses and supporting documents on the issue.<br /><br />After nearly 10 days, Singh had yesterday sent the complaint to the CBI in which he had given detailed description of the incident during which he was allegedly offered bribe.</p>
<p>The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) on Army Chief General V K Singh's complaint alleging that he was offered a bribe of Rs 14 crore by a retired officer to clear a tranche of "sub-standard" vehicles.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The CBI has registered a PE in a matter related to an alleged offer of bribe to the Chief of Army Staff by a retired army officer on behalf of a private person, in connection with procurement of vehicles by Indian Army. The incident had reportedly occurred in September, 2010," CBI spokesperson said here.<br /><br />A PE is formal initiation of probe before registering an FIR but during this phase the agency does not have powers to question, search or arrest. The agency had yesterday received a complaint from Gen Singh giving details of the alleged bribery offer made to him by retired Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, who has denied the charge terming it as absolutely false and concocted.<br /><br />After getting the legal opinion, the agency decided to proceed with a PE, the sources said. The CBI might convert the PE into an FIR if it finds prima-facie evidence of any alleged wrong-doing.<br /><br />The Army Chief had alleged that Tejinder Singh had offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore, a matter he had reported to Defence Minister A K Antony, to clear purchase of nearly 600 all-terrain Tatra BEML trucks.<br /><br />Tejinder Singh has refuted the allegations and also slapped a defamation case against the Army Chief and other officers. <br /><br />The ministry had then recommended a CBI probe into the allegation made by the Army Chief. In the initial communication to the CBI, the Army Chief had said that there was a bribe offer from Tejinder Singh following which the CBI had asked him to submit detailed description of the incident, list of possible witnesses and supporting documents on the issue.<br /><br />After nearly 10 days, Singh had yesterday sent the complaint to the CBI in which he had given detailed description of the incident during which he was allegedly offered bribe.</p>