Dhanya Rajendran| The News Minute | October 24, 2014 | 11.40 am IST
A Naval shipwright artificer of INS Kattabomman, Tirunelveli has alleged that he is being held against his will at a hospital by the navy, allegedly because he leveled charges of corruption against his commanding officers.
Sunil Kumar Sahu of the rank shipwright unit, says he is being held at the naval hospital in Kochi against his will. He was allegedly taken into custody two days ago on the instructions of his commanding officers at the naval base in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, and shifted to Kochi for “medical treatment” as he was "mentally unsound".
Speaking to The News Minute from the hospital, Sahu said: “I have been forcefully kept here, I can’t say anything more than that.” The navy has denied the allegations.
According to Sahu’s brother Pramod Kumar Sahu, who lives in Allahabad, Sunil Kumar was transferred from the Karwar naval base in October 2013, for raising questions about financial irregularities. "At Karwar, two senior officers were harassing him when he did not give in to their demands, he was transferred out. Now, when he alleged corruption at the Kattabomman base as well, he says he was threatened and arrested. His mobile phone was seized. His wife told us that initially she was not even allowed to meet him. They have a small child."
Sahu's wife, Aarthi Sahu has registered a complaint with the Vijayanagaram police station in Tirunelveli alleging that her husband was being tortured for exposing a scam.
In March 2013, Sahu had complained against two of his senior officers at the Karwar base, alleging that they put pressure on him to fudge receipts. He had alleged that quantities of certain fitting parts purchased by the navy did not match the number shown on the receipts. Naming two officers, he said that they wanted him to sign the receipts, which he refused to do.
In October 2013 his mother Saroj Sahu had written to the then defence minister A K Antony expressing dissatisfaction with the investigation in the complaints regarding allegations of corruption in Karwar. In letter, Saroj says: “The investigations held until date, are biased in favour of the implications made by the two officers against my son.”
A year later, on October 13, 2014, Sahu wrote a six-page complaint naming three of his senior officers at INS Kattabomman including commanding officer Vijay Kumar Jha, leveling serious charges of corruption. Sahu’s family has alleged that just a few days later, Sunil Kumar has been held and transferred to Kochi naval hospital because of this fresh complaint.
The Navy however, has rejected Sahu’s allegations, saying that Sahu had been shifted to Kochi as he required “medical treatment”.
Commander Raju of the Vishakapatnam Naval base told The News Minute: “His complaint of corruption has been received by the Eastern Naval Command in Vishakapatnam, through his commanding officer in INS Kattabomman. The complaint was received just when the navy was dealing Hudhud relief work, the navy too had taken a lot of damage.
Asked about the necessity of taking Sahu into custody, Raju said: “The commanding officer was supposed to make a preliminary enquiry report. When he went to get details from Sahu, he used profane language against the commanding officer, so the Commanding officer decided that he required some sort of medical treatment.”
When asked why Commanding Officer Vijay Kumar Jha was questioning Sahu, when the complaint was made against Jha himself, Raju said: “That is procedure.”
He said that Sahu’s allegations of corruption against five officers at the Kattabomman naval base were being investigated.