Army Havildar given 10-year prison term

An Army general court martial has awarded 10 years' rigorous imprisonment to a Havildar of the Military Intelligence's now defunct Technical Support Division (TSD), set up by former chief Gen V K Singh, for allegedly attempting to sell classified information.
Havildar Sham Das was arrested by sleuths of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in 2012 in Kerala and was handed over to Army authorities.
The punishment, given recently to Das, is subject to confirmation by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Army Command, headquartered in Chandimandir, defence sources said.
They added that his court-martial began last year after a Court of Inquiry found him guilty of charges under which he was arrested.

TSD was set up by then Army chief Singh, now Minister of State for External Affairs, as a specialised snooping unit.
However, the unit ran into controversy during the end of his tenure and it was finally shut down by his successor Gen Bikram Singh (Retd).