After the defence ministry termed as "illegal" his decision to put a ban on promotion of Army Chief designate Dalbir Suhag, Gen (retd)V K Singh, now a Union Minister, today justified his action.        

"If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!," he tweeted.     

The Defence ministry has told the Supreme Court in a recent affidavit in a promotion case related to Lt Gen Ravi Dastane that the alleged lapses which were made as grounds to impose disciplinary ban on Suhag were "premeditated", "vague" and "illegal".        

The former Army Chief's comments came against the backdrop of reports that a unit under Lt General Dalbir Suhag had allegedly carried out killings and daocities in the North East region.        

Latching on to the affidavit, Congress spokesperson Abishek Singhvi sought the resignation of V K Singh, saying that the NDA government's affidavit in the Supreme Court on the issue of Army vice chief Dalbir Singh Suhag's promotion was an expression of "no confidence" in him.