New Delhi: In a shocking expose, Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag has accused General (retired) VK Singh, who is the Minister of State for External Affairs in the Modi government, of imposing an “illegal ban” under “false, baseless and imaginary allegations” when the latter was heading India’s army in 2012.

According to media reports, Suhag has filed an affidavit in Supreme Court, accusing the minister of trying to scuttle his promotion with “malafide intent and to arbitrarily punish him”, adding that he was being “victimised for extraneous reasons”. Suhag claimed the attempt was to block his appointment as Army Commander.

VK Singh slapped a DV ban on Dalbir Singh between April and May 2012 for alleged “failure of command and control” in an operation in Assam’s Jorhat in 2011. But the ban was lifted in June that year by General Vikram Singh who took over the army after VK Singh retired on May 31, 2012. Dalbir Singh was appointed as commander of the eastern command soon after.

General VK Singh’s tenure as the army chief had courted controversy after he moved the Supreme Court to change his birth date in army records, which would help him to stay as the army chief for more time.