A military court on Friday convicted Brigadier Iqbal Singh in the Tehelka expose case, finding him guilty on all the three charges.
The charges included acceptance of bribe, for which he was being prosecuted and sentenced him to two years' rigorous imprisonment.
-
Complete Coverage: The great defence scandal
The other two charges for which he was found guilty by the General Court Martial relate to violation of the army code of conduct and enjoying hospitality.
The GCM also ordered Singh's dismissal from service.
Brig Singh was immediately placed under arrest and his sentence would be executed after seeking permission from the chief of army staff.
The GCM observed that Brig Singh had willfully accepted Rs 50,000 from the Tehelka sting operation team, whose members posed as arms dealers, as graft to help them introduce their defence equipment in the Indian army.
It said the brigadier was fully aware that he would be offered Rs 50,000 at a hotel in New Delhi and that even after accepting the money he continued to enjoy the hospitality of wine and the call girl who had been arranged by the Tehelka team.
The GCM said the officer knowingly kept asking the call girl for her telephone number which proved that he was in his senses and the claims made by the defence that he had been served with spiked water did not stand to be true.
The panel of judges of the GCM said if he had been given spikes water then he should have got a case registered with the police after getting a medical examination done.
The GCM said the evidence produced by Lt Col Vijay Singh and Col B S Ranawat, who were posted at the Master General Ordinances, proved the Brig Singh had not informed his superiors before or after meeting the representatives of the foreign firm Westend International, the fake entity floated by the Tehelka team to carry out the sting operation.
The GCM said Brig Singh had also not sought permission from the military intelligence before meeting the representatives of the firm and also failed to maintain a record of his meetings with them.
It said the prosecution team had also proved the charges of violation of army code of conduct.
The trial of Brig Iqbal Singh lasted in the General Court Martial for nearly a year.
He is the third army personnel to be convicted by the army court in the Tehelka case.
Earlier, Col. Anil Sehgal was convicted and sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and Major General P S K Chaudhary was sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment and was dismissed from service.
With the conviction of Brig Singh, the army has wrapped up its action against all the three army officers accused in the Tehelka case.
Complete Coverage: The great defence scandal
