The Army officers had no clue about about Major Gogoi’s Srinagar visit, reported the Quint.
A day after the court of inquiry was ordered by the Indian Army Chief Bipn Rawat, sources told the Quint that the Army Chief had questioned General Officer Commanding Victor Force, Commander of Sector-10 and Commanding Officer of RR 53 Bn at headquarters of Chinar Corps.
Gogoi was briefly detained by the police after he was not allowed entry into a Srinagar hotel with a local girl recently.
According to the report, a ‘furious’ Rawat asked how an officer, who had been decorated in May 2017 with Chief of Army Staff’s Commendation Card for his counterinsurgency services, had gone to stay for a night at a hotel in a congested civilian population area in Srinagar.
Rawat had expressed concern that Major Gogoi, a familiar face in the Valley, could have been honey-trapped, kidnapped by militants to seek the release of dreaded terrorists, shot dead or lynched by a mob.
Gogoi, last year tied Farooq Ahmed Dar, a civilian to an army vehicle using him as a human shield against the alleged stone pelters.
All the three officers in the meeting denied having any knowledge of Gogoi’s escapades in Srinagar and claimed that none of them had given him permission to travel to the capital city without security and for staying at a hotel for a night.
On Friday, General Rawat said that if Major Gogoi is found guilty, exemplary punishment will be awarded to him.
“If any officer of the Indian army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action,” Rawat told reporters at Pahalgham while on a visit to the Army Goodwill School.
He added, “If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest…the punishment will set an example,” the army chief said.
