Brig RS Rathore must be heaving a sigh of relief. He would have been facing disciplinary proceedings by now, had it not been for a last minute intervention from someone very influential who put a stop to the matter, for the time being at least.
Let's deal with the sub. without delay, as PG Wodehouse would have said.
Brig RS Rathore is posted as the Brig (A) at HQs 14 Corps. He had been attached to HQs 41 Arty Div vide orders of the DV Directorate in February this year for facing disciplinary proceedings regarding a case related to the time when he was a Colonel. However, the orders were cancelled on February 21 and the Brig was saved from the embarrassment for now.
There are whispers in the corridors of Sena Bhavan that the reprieve for Brig Rathore came at the instance of the newly appointed Judge Advocate General (JAG), Maj Gen PS Rathore, who allegedly initiated a noting sheet saying that the case needed to be re-looked. Incidentally, Maj Gen Rathore took over on February 18, just three days before the cancellation of orders.
The matter pertains to the days when Brig RS Rathore was the Commandant of COD Dehu Road, near Pune in 2007-09. The CDA reportedly detected a scam wherein fake bills had been raised for hiring trucks for the supply of ordnance stores to units across the country. The CDA is said to have detected that the same truck was showed to be in Guwahati and in Bhuj on same day. Some say the scam was to the tune of around Rs 15 crores.
A Court of Inquiry was ordered by GOC M and G Area in 2011 and it was conducted by the Deputy GOC. The CoI reportedly found Brig Rathore and one Brig Mohan and Col Tarsem Singh, who was Deputy Commdt, blameworthy. Brig Mohan has, in the meantime, taken pre-mature retirement.
However, the entire process has come to a halt following the withdrawal of orders of attachment.
It is surprising that the Army has gone slow in this case just days after the Supreme Court made a adverse comment on how an officer was allowed to go scot-free because the Army delayed his trial till the case became time-barred. Incidentally, the present JAG was the Deputy JAG of Central Command when the case of Col Rajvir Singh, became time-barred.
