Certain classified Army documents have gone missing from the headquarters of an infantry brigade in Jalandhar, Punjab. The documents, pertaining to operational matters of the brigade, went missing around a week back and the Army has launched a high-level investigation to probe their disappearance.
Highly placed Army sources informed The Indian Express that the documents were in the custody of the General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO 1), of the infantry brigade, who is an officer of the rank of Lt Colonel. The documents were reportedly kept in an almirah in the office of the GSO 1 from where they went missing.
The Military Intelligence (MI) has started an internal investigation in order to find out under what circumstances these classified documents have gone missing. Sources say the MI has questioned all those who have frequented the office in the last few days. Members of civilian workforce who were engaged in routine maintenance activities of the office complex were also questioned in this regard. However, there has been little headway into the probe till now, said sources.
When contacted, sources in Army Headquarters confirmed that the classified documents had gone missing from the brigade headquarters in Jalandhar. They said that an investigation was currently taking place and the exact chain of events which led to their loss was not yet known. “The feedback from the brigade is that these documents were dated and not very recent. However, they were still rated as classified which means that they were to be kept in safe custody,” said an officer.
The infantry brigade in Jalandhar belongs to 11 Corps of the Army which is also headquartered in the same city and which in turn falls under the Western Command headquartered in Chandimandir. The area of responsibility of the Corps falls in Punjab along the Indo-Pak border and it has two divisions under its command. The Ferozepur-based Golden Arrow Division and Amritsar-based Panther Division form a part of the Corps.
News Source: http://indianexpress.com
