A subedar of the Army Medical Corps was sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and dismissal from service by a General Courts Martial (GCM) on charges of corruption on October 8. Subedar Patil Rajendra Shivaji, who retired during the course of the trial, was tried by a General Courts Martial at the Tibri Military Station near Gurdaspur in Punjab for committing six offences. The first three charges were under section 13(1)(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act for possessing disproportionate assets, and the fourth to sixth charges were under Army Act section 63, which pertains to “act prejudicial to good order and military discipline”. A board of officers, along with a team of military intelligence and military police personnel, had recovered Rs 8 lakh from the subedar’s car and found Rs 7,83,510 kept at different places during a search of his house. During the search, they found a personal licensed weapon, the particulars of which had not been entered in the unit's private arms register. When a mobile phone at his residence was checked, it was found that he was using apps that the Army had banned and that he had the contact number of a private vendor. Thereafter, a court of inquiry was ordered, and the bank accounts of the subedar and his wife were scrutinised. It was found that there were deposits of Rs 27,11,200 in his account and Rs 44,27,000 in his wife’s account, while the subedar was posted at the military hospital in Amritsar. This evidence ultimately culminated in his trial by the General Courts Martial. Subedar pleads guilty to the charge of an undeclared personal weapon In the first charge, it was averred that Rs 15,83,510 was found in his car and house on August 30, 2022. The second charge pertained to having deposits of Rs 27,11,200 in his own bank account, and the third charge pertained to having deposits of Rs 44,27,000 in his wife’s bank account. The fourth charge pertained to impropriety relating to interaction with the civilian vendors, and the fifth charge to impropriety in respect of not entering the particulars of his private weapon in the unit's private arms register. The sixth charge pertained to impropriety relating to using banned apps on his phone. The subedar had pleaded guilty to the fifth charge, and for the other charges, the trial had proceeded on a plea of “not guilty”. At the General Courts Martial, the subedar examined three defence witnesses and gave the details of his income from various sources with respect to all the charges. With regard to the first charge, the defence of the accused was that the amount of Rs 15,83,510 was the personal savings and had been mustered through the sale of gold. With respect to the fourth and sixth charges, the defence of the accused was that he did not improperly interact with any civilian vendor and did not improperly use any banned apps. However, finding his explanations to be unsatisfactory, the General Courts Martial found him guilty of all the charges, awarded the punishment of rigorous imprisonment for seven years, and ordered him to be dismissed from the service. The findings of the General Courts Martial and the sentence have been announced subject to confirmation by the competent authority.
