Financial bungling charge: Retired IAF officer sent to one-day police custody
Two other accused granted anticipatory bail by Punjab and Haryana High Court
C K Sharma 
Retired Wing Commander C K Sharma.
A day after a retired Wing Commander of Indian Air Force (IAF) was arrested on charges of financial bungling from the account of an ex-servicemen society that supports the ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) movement, a Gurgaon court Friday sent him to one-day police custody.
The Metropolitian Magistrate will hear Wing Commander (retd) C K Sharma’s bail plea Saturday. Sharma and two other members of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), Capt (retd) Vinod Gandhi and Lt Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, have been accused of siphoning off nearly Rs 14 lakh from the society’s account. Sharma is the treasurer of IESM.
Gandhi and Singh, meanwhile, were granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday. Since Sharma was arrested Thursday evening, his counsel moved fresh bail plea application in the Gurgaon court.
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Lt General (retd) Raj Kadyan, who was expelled as chairman of IESM, has registered a case against the three for allegedly illegally withdrawing the money from the society’s account and not putting it back.
The Economic Offence Wing, Gurgaon, had arrested Sharma Thursday evening.
IESM sources said the case is the result of an ongoing ego clash and divisional differences between top members of the society. In July 2014, the matter of misuse of funds was settled by the Gurgaon court and Sharma was found ‘not guilty’, said a member of the society who did not want to be named.
Soon after the court order, the IESM held a general body meeting after which Kadyan was expelled as chairman of the society, added the member.
Another IESM member, Admiral (retd) H C Malhotra, said Kadyan’s political ambition and leanings contributed to the society losing trust in him.
Kadyan’s point of view is stated in an internal email for IESM members.
“A lot of these funds were taken out unauthorisedly between March and July 2013 through multiple cheques. When I learnt of the withdrawals, my first attempt was to resolve the issue in-house… As Chairman IESM, it is my fiduciary as well as moral duty to ensure that the funds are protected against any misuse… Accordingly, I filed a police complaint on 23 October 2013… The case took so long also because of non-cooperation and a biased attitude by the Bank…” he said in the mail.
A section of IESM members believes Kadyan used his political clout to get Sharma arrested. Kadyan did not immediately respond to calls and text messages for comment.
Sharma’s counsel Akshat Sharma said the ground on which the fresh bail plea application was registered was that why was his client arrested just 12 hours before the High Court was about to order anticipatory bail for the three accused. “Since the matter was nullified in 2014, why was the arrest made? And, Sharma is a heart patient, so that should be taken into consideration.”
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