Thaindian News

Bangalore, June 1 (IANS) State-run defence behemoth BEML will sue former Indian Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh for defamation for terming its Tatra heavy-duty trucks sub-standard and saying they were exorbitantly priced, the company chief said Friday.

“We have decided to file a defamatory suit against General V.K. Singh for making derogatory remarksabout the quality of Tatra trucks we supplied to the army and making falseclaims on its price,” a fuming BEML chairman and managing director V.R.S. Natarajan told reporters a day after V.K. Singh retired Thursday.

Rebutting the various charges levelled by V.K. Singh against the company, Natarajan denied BEML had any role in the alleged Rs.14 crore bribe offered to him for clearing an order for an additional 600 Tatra trucks.

“We emphatically refute all the charges made by the great general against the company and the Tatra trucks the company has been supplying to the army since 1986. At no point of time had the army complained about the quality of the trucks or their operational functions,” Natarajan said.

Accusing V.K. Singh ofmaking false, motivated and damaging statements against the company to the media at the fag end of his 42-year service, Natarajan said the supply of Tatra trucks to the army was in conformity with the procedures laid down by the defence ministry.

“As a state-run enterprise, we have nothing to do with the allegations Gen. Singh made about thebribe offer or attempts by a third party to influence the army in purchasing 600 more trucks,” Natarajan asserted.