New Delhi, Sept. 23: Former army chief Gen. V.K. Singh today alleged that the force was hushing up what he called the "biggest unfolding scam" where a senior officer had been sent on leave pending retirement.

Singh, now minister of state for external affairs, said the scam had got the "entire army abuzz".

The allegation by Singh, who was meeting defence minister Manohar Parrikar this evening, came in a letter to the editor-in-chief of The Hindu newspaper.

This morning, the defence minister said he too had his "ear to the ground" and had heard of an allegation concerning a top military officer, a lieutenant general, in army headquarters.

The army has denied in writing that there is such a scam or that the officer has been sent on leave pending retirement later this month.

The officer was said to be on pre-retirement visits to units of the army for which he was responsible as a pater familias.

Singh had responded to a tweet four days ago, saying that if there was suspicion of wrongdoing then the case should be investigated.

Today, he wrote to the newspaper saying its reports on an army cell that was created when he was the chief till 2012 were scurrilous.

The reports said he had ordered the destruction of documents just before retiring from service. Singh's letter to the editor was forwarded to journalists by his lawyer, Vishwajeet Singh.

Referring to the reports on the army cell, Singh wrote: "Maybe it has something to do with the biggest unfolding scam which has the entire army abuzz where a senior officer has been sent on leave pending retirement. The tactic has worked in the past - fire off a few missiles, more often than not in my direction, in the fond hope it'll create enough smoke to distract from the main issue. In the last five years, all sorts of insinuating (and some accusing) articles have been written. Time and again, it's been obvious there isn't an iota of truth in them. Still, the attacks keep coming."

A long message circulating among social networking groups that surfaced about 10 days back insinuated that the lieutenant general in Army Headquarters who oversaw postings and appointments was caught accepting a bribe from an officer in the Bengal area. The army has denied it. It has said there is neither any such investigation nor had any measure been taken against the officer.

This morning, defence minister Parrikar also said he was aware the officer was due to retire shortly.