About 18 NCC cadets of the 34th battalion left the Combined Annual Training Camp (CATC) at Talod taluka in Sabarkantha district, after a senior officer allegedly harassed them by making them work harder and charged them with indiscipline.

K S Prajapati, one of the cadets who led the group of from Prantij taluka to the camp, said: “We were treated badly and were asked to do all the work at the camp. Colonel A S Shekhawat also abused me and compared me with Osama bin Laden.”

The cadets who left the camp are now planning to register a complaint with the NCC Group Commander in Ahmedabad.

The camp was scheduled between October 26 and November 4. A total of 737 cadets from Prantij and Vallabh Vidyanagar participated in the camp.

On his part, Colonel Shekhawat said that Prajapati was given the responsibility of maintaining discipline, but did not do his work. “To maintain discipline in the camp it was required that Prajapati stayed in the camp throughout. He was present in the camp for only one to two hours. The cadets used to cross the campus fencing, which is not allowedx.”

He added that a senior cadet of the same group, Samir Vaghela, was appointed as an under officer by Prajapati. This was also a violation of camp discipline.

“When I observed that the core values of NCC, which is discipline, is not being maintained, I kicked Prajapati out on October 28. I cannot allow anyone to violate orders. Disgruntled, Prajapati incited other cadets to desert camp,” said Col Shekhawat. He added: “He then thought of maligning me before the local media. On October 31, he barged into my office along with some other cadets and behaved indecently.”