Officer who turned whistleblower

Vijay Mohan

WHILE most cases of fake encounters have emerged in public domain on the basis of the issue of “disappearances” or “killings” being raised by the families or associates of the victims, there have also been instances of Army officers themselves becoming whistleblowers. The most recent such example is that of Lt-Col Dharamvir Singh, who in an affidavit filed in court through his wife in July in matter that is still under adjudication, has alleged that Army personnel perpetrated extortion and killing of innocent people in Manipur.

In the affidavit, Lt-Col Dharamvir Singh, a Special Forces officer, claimed that senior officers turned vindictive after he had submitted a written complaint in September 2016 in this regard. According to the affidavit, three alleged fake encounters and an extortion case were perpetrated by a single team of the 3 Corps Intelligence Unit between 2010 and 2011. 

In another incident, the affidavit alleged, Satish, a college student from Manipur and his friend were picked up from Shillong by the same team on February 5, 2010, and both were killed in the jungles of Masimpur. Then on August 18, a PLA militant G Jiteshwar Sharma and a friend were picked up near SM College in Dimapur. They were killed and the bodies buried behind the unit mess.

He has further alleged that the unit was also behind the kidnapping of a woman and her child from Dimapur, who were released after taking a ransom of Rs 1 crore from her family.

The same allegations were earlier levelled in 2010-2011 in letters written to the GOC, 3 Corps, the GOC-in-C, Eastern Command and the Chief of Army Staff by Major T. Ravi Kiran, who at the time was the Second-in-Command of the unit.