Brig Gen Bajracharya has been accused of lobbying against the term extension of Major General Naresh Basnyat, chief of the directorate, with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and defense minister Bidhya Bhandari. [break]
The military had sought written clarification from Bajracharya within 24 hours as to what prompted him to lobby against Basnyat´s term extension. Bajrachayra has already furnished his clarification over the matter on Thursday.
“The military secretariat received the clarification letter on Thursday although it was a public holiday,” said a major general asking not to be named. On Friday, the military secretary wrote a “note” regarding the clarification, which has been forwarded to the army chief along with the statement.
The senior army official further said NA´s Legal Department will study Bajracharya´s statement and if it is found to be unsatisfactory a Court of Inquiry (CoI) will be set up to further investigate into the matter.
The CoI, if deemed necessary, may then recommend the army headquarters to initiate court martial proceedings against Bajracharya, which may amount to his dismissal from service and imprisonment of up to seven years.
However, the verdict issued by the military tribunal is not final. The verdict can be reviewed at the NA´s Appellate court.
“Bajracharya´s major fault was to encourage his subordinates to lobby against Basnyat,” confided the source. Lieutenant Colonel Premendra Kishor Chhetri and Majors Kiran Shrestha and Pankaj Thapa among others had sided with Bajracharya in lobbying against Basnyat.
The cabinet had extended Basnyat´s term for two years on December 26, 2010. Basnyat and Bajracharya had entered NA at the same time as second lieutenants. However, Basnyat was always in the “limelight” and got promoted to the post of major general.
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