By NNN-PTO
New Delhi : Faced with a controversy over the pilferage of food and clothes meant for troops on the Siachen glacier, the army has finally agreed to cooperate with Jammu and Kashmir Police after its attempts to thwart the probe into the matter were countered by the state administration.
The army has said it will cooperate with police once two courts of inquiry, initiated by it into the pilferage cases, were completed. Police could summon the concerned officials if they were not satisfied with the army’s report, sources said.
The army had filed a strong complaint against Leh’s Senior Superintendent of Police Alok Kumar for his alleged aggressive attitude towards its personnel deployed in the Himalayan town located in north Kashmir.
Telephone calls were made to senior government officials even from the Udhampur-based Northern Command, responsible for the whole of Jammu and Kashmir, complaining against Kumar, a 1997 batch IPS officer from the state cadre.
However, after the army found no takers for its complaints, it gave an assurance to police that it would cooperate in the probe once the two courts of inquiry were completed, sources in Jammu and Kashmir’s home department said.
Copies of the findings of the two inquiries will be handed over to police and after this, if required, the concerned army officials will be produced before police at Leh for questioning, the sources said.
A spokesman at army headquarters said one inquiry was at an advanced stage and the other one would be completed once the chief judicial magistrate gave the army permission to examine five civilian witnesses.