Jodhpur, July 25: Major Surinder Singh the accused in the Siachen ‘Killings’ Case has produced a long list of Army officials which he wants to be produced as the Defence witnesses at the recording of the Summary of Evidence (SoE) at Jodhpur. Surprisingly, initially he had also desired to call the Chief of Army Staff and the Northern Army Commander as the defence witnesses.Counsel of the accused in Chandigarh today confirmed that Major Singh had submitted the list containing the name of the COAS and other top Army officials.
Few days back Brigadier Binod Kumar the Officiating Chief of Staff of the Desert Corps had given an ultimatum to the accused directing him to produce the list of defence witnesses in a given timeframe. After that Major Singh produced a list in which was reportedly ‘rejected’ by Brigadier Kumar.
According to the sources, Major Singh had included the name of two news channel reporters, Post Commanders of 17 Jack Rifles and 21 Grenadiers, Dass and Chaukas Post Commanders, one video forensic expert and also Brigadier H.P.S. Bedi the then Brigadier of 102 Infantry Brigade as defence witness.As the previous list was produced, Major Singh was asked to prove the relevance behind calling the COAS and other top officials as defence witnesses.
“Major Singh’s reply failed to satisfy the prosecution side and the first list was turned down. Now a fresh list has been produced by the accused,” said the sources.The new list, according to the sources, includes the name of Captain Prafull Sharma the Medical Officer of the 5/5 Gorkha Rifles, Captain Kalpatra the officer who can be proved important in the ‘Identity Card’ issue, two of the firers at one of the posts under 5/5 GR and the GS Clerk of the battalion.
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