Navy hit by another sex scandal, Antony orders probe

New Delhi: The Navy has been hit by yet another alleged sex scandal as the wife of a senior officer has charged her husband with forcing her to get "sexually involved" with his colleagues, prompting Defence Minister AK Antony to order a probe.

The case has come up on a day when the Defence Minister asked the top brass of the Navy in its Commanders` conference to take sternest possible action against officers involved in such deeds. "The Defence Minister was very helpful and has told us that he has ordered a departmental inquiry into the charges made by me and my parents against my husband," the woman complainant said here after meeting Antony. She alleged that her husband, who is a Lieutenant Commander (equivalent to a Major in Army) posted at the Naval Ship Repair Yard (NSRY) in Karwar, "forced me to get sexually involved with his colleagues and consume alcohol." The woman, who says she has shifted to her maternal home after this episode, has accused her husband of physical and mental torture. An MBA, she got married in February last year to the officer. The woman alleged that her husband had threatened that if she disclosed about his deeds to anyone, "he would put up my nude pictures on internet to spoil my image socially". She said her husband is working on an important assignment related to Navy`s Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier under construction at a shipyard in Russia and is about to be posted there soon. In a complaint sent to the Defence Minister on April 30, she had demanded departmental disciplinary action against him. The officer could not be reached for his comments. In the recent past, several cases of sexual misconduct have come up against Navy officers including one where the wife of another Lt Cdr in Kochi filed an FIR against her husband and colleagues alleging that she was being forced into wife swapping by her husband. In that case also, the Navy officials in headquarters here had attempted to dismiss the case as that of marital discord but Defence Minister Antony took steps to ensure an inquiry into the matter which is underway. A couple of other officers were also dismissed recently for sending lewd messages to several women using multiple SIM cards and mobiles numbers and having illicit affairs with the wife of a brother officer. The Navy was left red-faced when pictures of one of its very senior officers of the rank of Commodore (equivalent to Brigadier in Army) surfaced in a compromising position with a Russian woman. The Defence Minister ordered sacking of the officer, who was overseeing the construction of INS Vikramaditya in Russia at a time when India and Russia were discussing the demands by the latter for an increased price of the warship. PTI