Singh bribery case: CBI seeks fresh analysis of evidence

Sources said earlier analysis could not retrieve anything from the CD and nothing was audible

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CBI will go for fresh forensic analysis of an audio recording submitted by former army chief General (Retd) V K Singh to buttress his allegation of purported bribe offer made by a retired senior officer of the army to clear supply of Tatra trucks.

CBI sources said the agency is seeking fresh forensic analysis of the CD which supposedly carries audio recording of the conversation during which the alleged offer of Rs 14 crore was made to the then army chief V K Singh.

The sources said an earlier analysis could not retrieve anything from the CD and nothing was audible after which it was sent for examination at the Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory (CFSL).

"We have sent the CD to CFSL for a fresh forensic evaluation," a senior CBI official has said.

The forensic experts had tried to retrieve data from the recording device which was provided by the then Army Chief as an evidence of the alleged bribe offer of Rs 14 crore made to him by a senior retired officer to clear a tranche of 600 all terrain trucks but it was found that data was "corrupt".

The agency said they had asked Singh to provide another CD or device which can provide clear conversation during the analysis following which a CD was given to the agency.

CBI had registered a case on October 19, 2012 after carrying out preliminary enquiry for nearly six months. Lt Gen (Retd) Tejinder Singh was named by the CBI as an accused under Prevention of Corruption Act, as charges were levelled against him by V K Singh in his complaint.

Tejinder had denied all charges levelled against him and also filed a defamation case against the former Chief.

The agency had also carried out searches at the Kailash Colony residence of Vectra Chairman Ravinder Rishi, also a Director in Tatra Sipox UK which supplied all-terrain trucks to BEML for giving them to the army, and that of Tejinder at Safdarjung Enclave in south Delhi, they said.