The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) to investigate the disappearance of its two soldiers from an elite troop contingent that was taking part in counter-terrorism exercises with the US Military in California last week. India has also sought help from the US Home Department to trace the soldiers and has said the soldiers went “absent without leave” while on transit at Camp Pendleton where the 10-day exercise was being held.“The Indian Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry to investigate the incident. Further action is in progress in coordination with the US officials,” said Army spokesperson Lt Col A K Mathur. The spokesperson added that the soldiers did not take away any documents, equipment, weapons or even their official passports, thereby strengthening suspicions that the incident is an attempt of illegal immigration.“Both the jawans are from Nepal and have completed about seven years and four years of service respectively with the battalion of the Indian Army. All equipment and documents, including the passports of the soldiers are safe and are held with the Army contingent officials,” Mathur said.Maintaining that the CoI will trace out details of the incident, Army sources said the soldiers disappeared on the night of March 20, hours after the conclusion of ‘Exercise Shatrujeet’. The incident came to light the next day, when they failed to turn up for the morning roll call.What has surprised the Army is that the soldiers – Riflemen Sanjay Mahato and Santosh Thapa – were part of a handpicked 119-member contingent and were chosen for the exercise based on their expertise in counter insurgency operations.“A thorough background check of both soldiers was done and there were no reports of any disciplinary problems with them in the past. They were chosen as they were amongst the best in the Army,” a senior Army officer said.While the soldiers have been declared ‘absent without leave’, the Army will wait for 30 days before declaring them as deserters. Subsequently, they will be declared as proclaimed offenders and look-out notices will be posted at their home towns. According to the Army act, desertion in this case is punishable by dismissal from service and imprisonment of up to seven years.This is the second incident related to illegal immigration that has hit the Army this year. In January, the Army was rocked by a fake passport scam after it came to light that several official passports were sold to touts and were being used by illegal immigrants. The case, in which a Brigadier rank officer was charged, is still under investigation by the CBI.
