New Delhi, July 21 : Former army chief Gen V K Singh's aide Col Honey Bakshi has been admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Army Hospital, after he complained of mental harassment to the doctors, Indian Express reported.
Gen Singh had handpicked Colonel Honey Bakshi to head the Technical Support Division (TSD), a new secretive unit created after he took over as Army chief in March 2010.
Col Bakshi continued to head the New Delhi-based unit after the change of guard in the Army. But that was until Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the officer was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Army Hospital in what is being seen as the latest twist in the simmering factional feud in the Army.
The Military Intelligence (MI) officer has told doctors that he was being mentally harassed by some of his senior officers.
Col Bakshi was appointed as the head of TSD in the directorate general of military intelligence (DGMI) by Gen Singh in 2010, and was closely identified with the former Army chief throughout his tenure.
Later, anonymous complaints and media reports claimed that the officer was instrumental in illegally tapping phones of many important persons in the national capital. No proof has yet emerged to prove the allegations of phone tapping.
The dramatic turn for Col Bakshi shows that the fight between rival groups in the Army continues.
With Gen Singh retiring on May 31, there have been allegations doing the rounds that the new Army regime is harassing officers who had once been close to Gen Singh, including Col Bakshi.
A senior Army officer responsible for media affairs said Col Bakshi was admitted to the Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment for "routine medical check-up". He said the MI officer has been in hospital for the past couple of days.
Sources close to Col Bakshi's family said he had been facing intense harassment over the past several weeks, and finally checked himself into the hospital on Wednesday.
Col Bakshi's hospitalisation comes a few weeks after a head clerk of his division was detained by the Army on a tip-off from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence that the havildar was hawking a CD containing details of TSD operations, the Express report says.
The havildar is now being held in New Delhi for a detailed Army investigation into the case, although the DRI probe did not throw up anything to substantiate the espionage charge against him.
