Tribunal dismisses plea of 'ketchup' Colonel

New Delhi: The Armed Forces Tribunal today
dismissed the review petition filed by Colonel H S Kohli, who
was sacked from the Army for faking encounters in counter
insurgency operations in the north-east in 2003.
The officer -- to whom a section of the media gave the
sobriquet 'Ketchup Colonel' -- had filed a review petition in
the Tribunal, saying the decision to sack him from the Army
was contrary to Defence Ministry's decision-making process,
where only loss of seniority of five years in service was
recommended by the joint secretary concerned.
Rejecting Kohli's review petition, Justice S S
Kulshreshtha said, "I have no justified grounds to review the
case."
The Tribunal had earlier rejected Kohli's main petition
in January this year.
After the order, Kohli's counsel Dil Jeet Singh said that
they would now approach the High Court on the issue.
"The tribunal dismissed our application without taking
cognizance of the new evidence produced by us in the case," he
added.
Singh had earlier claimed that the ministry notings on
Kohli's dismissal orders show that the Under Secretary
concerned had recommended commuting his sentence, which was
accepted by the Joint Secretary,who was the competent
authority.
But fearing media backlash, the Joint Secretary sent it
to higher ups, who stuck to the dismissal order, he had
alleged.
The review petition had sought the Tribunal to have a
look at the decision-making process of the ministry in the
case.
During the court martial, Kohli was offered a plea
bargain but later on he was dismissed from service,
according to the petitioners.
Col Kohli, commanding officer of an artillery regiment
in Assam, had taken photographs of civilians splashed with
tomato ketchup posing as corpses and gave them to his seniors
to stake claim for gallantry award.
The incident took place at Bada Nagadun near Silchar in
Assam and Col Kohli was dismissed from the Army in
November 2004 after a court martial found him guilty.
Later on it was claimed that Kohli had followed orders
from his superior Brig S S Rao, who said he was taking
directions from his superiors.