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Fernandes meets top defence officials

Defence Minister George Fernandes late on Tuesday night chaired a meeting of top level officials of his ministry and the three services to chalk out action to be taken against six army officers who were shown in a secretly recorded video tape either accepting or showing their willingness to receive bribes to influence defence deals.

Besides Fernandes, the meeting was attended by Defence Secretary Yogendra Narain, Naval Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar and top officials of the army and air force.

Chief of Army Staff General S Padmanabhan, who is in Dehradun, has been asked to rush to Delhi apparently to clear the deck for action against the six army officers.

These include three major generals, two brigadiers and a lieutenant colonel.

According to defence ministry sources, the action against these officials can be under Article 311 of the Constitution providing for immediate removal from service or calling for a summary of evidence for court martial procedure.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis is away on an official tour of Malaysia. He will return on March 16, the sources said.

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