An Army surgeon of the rank of major — who faked his own suicide, deserted the Army, and eloped with the wife of a colonel — has now been dismissed from service after a court-martial, Army sources have confirmed. The major, belonging to the Army Medical Corps, was posted in Tinsukia, Assam, when he deserted sometime in June last year. After a meticulous operation by Military Intelligence, the officer was traced three months later at Sangli, Maharashtra, where he was working successfully as a surgeon in a cancer hospital. He was living with the woman he had eloped with.
To plan his desertion, the major allegedly thought of a crafty plan. He left his car on the banks of the river Brahmaputra and left a suicide note in it addressed to his parents, stating that he was committing suicide as he was unhappy with life. Incidentally, the major was already married and his wife — also an Army officer — was away on a UN mission. But what made the Army suspicious was the fact that the wife of a colonel also went missing at the same time. “The body of the major was also not found, and that made the Army suspect something fishy,” said a source.
Sources said the major, an accomplished surgeon, executed his plan well, except for one mistake. He used his mobile phone once to contact some of his friends to arrange for his girlfriend to be hosted by them in the Andamans. He did not want to escape together with his girlfriend in order not to raise suspicions. So he thought of a plan wherein the two would escape through different routes to meet later at a predetermined location. The major first took a bus to Patna. From there, he took a train and travelled to Gujarat and Goa before making his way to the small town of Sangli in Maharashtra. His girlfriend, on the other hand, first went to the Andamans and then to Chennai, from where she went to Sangli.
“The major made just one mistake. He used his mobile phone instrument initially after desertion in order to talk to a friend of his since he wanted his paramour to be hosted at the Andaman Islands. The location of the instrument was traced. Even though the major later changed his mobile phone instrument, it was too late. This one mistake was enough to trace him,” said a source. The major was shellshocked when Military Intelligence officials arrested him in September last year.
The major was courtmartialled and dismissed from service sometime in January this year, Army sources confirmed. Apart from the offences of desertion from the Army and faking his own suicide, the officer was also accused of committing the grave offence of “stealing the affections of a brother officer’s wife”, sources said.