Did Gen VK Singh's secret Army unit try to topple J&K govt, siphon funds?

A secret inquiry report into the functioning of the Technical Services Division, a highly secretive and controversial Military Intelligence unit set up by former Army Chief General VK Singh, has reportedly recommended a high level probe into alleged siphoning of Secret Service funds by the unit.

The funds were allegedly used to, among other things, attempt to engineer a change of regime in the Jammu & Kashmir state government and to prop up a non-governmental organization attempting to scuttle the appointment of current Army Chief General Bikram Singh.

The Board of Officers inquiry report, according to a report in The Indian Express, was submitted to the Union Government in March this year. Defence Minister AK Antony then reportedly directed that the report, by Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, DG (Military Operations), be brought to the notice of the Prime Minister's Office.

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According to the report in The Indian Express, the inquiry report found that Rs 1.19 crore was taken from Secret Service funds to be paid to Ghulam Hassan Mir, presently Agriculture Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, to engineer a change of government in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mir has said the charge are baseless.

"During the turmoil period is J&K, it was me who put every effort to stabilise the government at the time. There was nothing on the sort. I don't subscribe the view which has been alleged against me," he told CNN-IBN.

The report says Rs 2.38 crore was given to one Hakikat Singh, whose NGO Jammu and Kashmir Humanitarian Service Organisation (JKHSO) is linked to Yes Kashmir, an NGO that filed a public interest litigation against then Army Commander Bikram Singh (now the Army Chief) regarding an alleged fake encounter case in Jangalat Mandi.

According to The Indian Express, the inquiry report also found Rs 8 crore spent on purchase of interception equipment ostensibly meant to be deployed in the J&K 15 Corps. This equipment was reportedly used illegally in New Delhi to tap phones, and was later destroyed.

Reacting to reports, Gen VK Singh told PTI, “This is simple vendetta as some people are not comfortable with me sharing the dais with Narendra Modi to espouse the cause of ex-servicemen in the country.”

The BJP has also backed him and said that the allegations could be a conspiracy against him since he had exposed corruption in the army during his tenure as Army chief.