Service chiefs enjoy Indian govt's confidence: Defence Minister

New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) In possible signs of thaw, India's Defence Minister A K Antony today appeared to be ruling out any action against Gen V K Singh but vowed to take the "strongest action" under laws against those responsible for the leak of the Army chief's letter to the Prime Minister. He disclosed that the Intelligence Bureau has been asked to go into the leak of the letter in which the Army chief had said that the country's security might be at stake and said the government will get to the root of it and find out the persons behind the "anti-national" act. "All the three service chiefs (of army, navy and air force) still enjoy the confidence of the government. They are working .... Otherwise, how can they continue," he told reporters when he was asked whether Gen Singh still enjoyed the government's pleasure and confidence. At a press conference at a DefExpo here, he was also asked whether the government would continue to "grin and bear" Gen Singh till retirement in May or ask him to go on leave following a spate of controversies surrounding him. The Minister's remarks on the confidence in the service chiefs came moments after a statement issued by Gen Singh from Jammu where he is on a tour that the leak of his letter should be treated as "high treason" and its source dealt with "ruthlessly". Maintaining that no patriotic Indian would indulge in leak of sensitive communication because it would only help the enemies, Antony said the report will be available at the earliest. "I assure you that we will not leave it there. We will make every possible attempt to find out the real culprits who have done this anti-national activity and they will be given the maximum punishment under the Indian Penal Code," he said. Ever since he lost the battle over the age issue, Gen Singh has been at loggerheads with the government and has also given a media interview claiming he was offered a bribe of Rupees 140 million (about USD 2.8 million) to swing a substandard defence deal. On top of acrimony over the issue, the leak of his secret letter to the Prime Minister enraged parliamentarians and political parties, some of whom even demanded his removal. The Defence Minister also answered questions on the state of Indian Army, modernisation and acquisition process, issues over which the Army chief had expressed concern to the Prime Minister. "The government has a zero tolerance policy for corruption and has decided that in the procurement process, if any malpractices are found at any stage, it would not hesitate to cancel the contracts," he said. Antony said any defence contracts over Rs 1.0 billion (about USD 20 million) has a provision for integrity pact and the agreements stands the risk of cancellation even at the last stage if malpractices come to notice. He said the indigenisation process of manufacturing arms and ammunition has improved but one also has to take into account the international technology denial regime which have only recently started easing. PTI