Agitators claim ‘vendetta action’ against retd officer

Questioning the recent arrest of a 75-year-old veteran by the Gurgaon Police in a cheating case, a group of protesting ex-servicemen on Sunday vowed to continue their campaign on ‘One Rank one Pension’ scheme and said that they won’t be cowed down by the “vendetta action”.

“This case has nothing to do with OROP. It relates to a complaint first made in 2013, which was rejected twice by the police and once by the Gurgaon Sessions Court. It has again cropped up and the Gurgaon Police arrested a veteran,” Col Anil Kaul (Retd), spokesperson of Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM), said.

Wing Commander CK Sharma (Retd) was arrested on March 10 after being booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC. The allegations are that he along with others was involved in financial bungling in the accounts of IESM, which was spearheading the agitation for ‘One Rank One Pension’.

“This is nothing but vendetta against us. However, we will continue our fight for OROP,” Kaul said.

Sharma’s daughter Nisha is upset that her father was picked up late at night and forcibly taken to the police station “like a criminal”. “I fail to understand what the need was to arrest him when previously the complaint has been rejected,” she has said.