New Delhi: The Navy has completed its
inquiry into the Commodore Sukhjinder Singh case, in which
certain "objectionable" photographs of the official with a
Russian woman were received by the service here.
The Board of Inquiry headed by a Vice Admiral-rank
officer has concluded its probe and submitted its findings in
the report with the personnel branch of the Navy on Tuesday
evening, sources in the Navy said here.
After receiving his "objectionable" pictures with a
Russian woman about a couple of weeks ago, the navy had
ordered an inquiry to find out if the official's proximity to
the woman had any impact on the Gorshkov deal.
The report will now be forwarded to navy chief
Admiral Nirmal Verma who will give his recommendations on the
punishment to be awarded to the officer and forward it to the
Defence Ministry for ratification of his decision, sources
said.
The official was closely associated with the Admiral
Gorshkov aircraft carrier project and was in Russia overseeing
the warship's construction in Sevmash shipyard there in the
period 2005-07.
After being posted back to India, he remained attached
with the programme as Principal Director (Aircraft Carrier
Project) before being transferred to the Directorate General
of Quality Assurance (DGQA) late last year.
Recently, India signed a fresh deal worth USD 2.33
billion (11,000 crore) with Russia for procuring the warship
which was originally bought for USD 974 million in 2004 after
Moscow increased the price by almost three-fold for
refurbishing the aircraft carrier.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 20:20