Defence minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday ordered immediate transfer of the National Defence Academy’s (NDA) commandant Lieutenant General Jatinder Singh. The announcement was made in light of the NDA recruitment scam.
The statement issued by the ministry of defence reads, “The defence minister A.K. Antony has ordered the immediate transfer of Lt. Gen. Jatinder Singh, commandant of the NDA, Pune. This is with the view to ensure a free and fair investigation in the alleged bribery racket in the recruitment of Group ‘C’ posts in the NDA.”
This decision was taken after two of the academy’s staff members were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly taking bribes to recruit Class 3 and 4 posts in the tri-services training institution.
The posts included subordinate staff like cooks, gardeners, lab attendants, library attendants and cadet orderlies.
These two arrested members include — Colonel Kulbir Singh, a staff officer of Lt. Gen. Singh and establishment officer of the NDA Suhas Shankar Waghmare. The others arrested in the case include Balkrishan Charan Lal Kanojia, Vishnu Prasad Sharma, Ramesh Dilip Gaikwad, Dattaraya Eknath Shitkal and Manoj Maruti
Shitkal.
The defence minister had taken a serious note of the issue, as the CBI had levelled allegations even against the staff officer of the NDA commandant.