Hospital raid: Army,CBI accuse each other of lying

The standoff between the CBI and Army over a controversial raid at the Command Hospital in Pune last week took a turn for the worse on Wednesday,with the two accusing each other of lying.While Pune Sub-Area Commander Brig Rajbir Singh refuted the CBI claim that “scores of Armymen” had stopped an agency team from taking possession of a seized air-conditioner at the hospital,the CBI Anti-Corruption branch said Customs officers who were present would testify to the incident and added that it was “really taken aback” by the Army’s claims. CBI Superintendent Vidya Kulkarni said the Army not only prevented CBI officials from taking over the seized AC,but also locked the room where it was kept and virtually pushed them out. A Lt Col had been booked by the CBI for corruption for allegedly taking the AC from a private company that supplies medical goods to the Command Hospital,which comes under the Southern Command. Kulkarni said the Rs 14,500 bill for the AC was submitted to them by the vendor,Kannan Nambiar of Chinchwad.The CBI also contested the Army’s claim that proper procedure was not followed while conducting the raid. “When our officials reached the hospital premises,they sought the number of the unit chief. We were told to contact Hospital Commandant Maj Gen S S Panwar and we did that,” Kulkarni said.“For eight hours,they helped us scan documents and equipment. But when we tried to seal the AC,they resisted. For hours then,the officials led by the Hospital Commandant obstructed us from carrying out our duty,” she said.The CBI said they have conveyed the facts to their Delhi office,which will take up the case with the Army headquarters. The Army too has threatened to take up the matter with the Central government,even as it is planning to move a case for probing the “CBI-vendor” nexus.The Army’s stand is that the CBI carried out the raid on a “trivial complaint” by a vendor who had been blacklisted earlier,and claim that the AC had been fitted in the vendors’ waiting room of the medical stores willingly by Nambiar’s M/S Shashi Enterprises. As for the Lt Col booked for corruption,the Army has decided to deny the CBI access to him.