New Delhi:
An Army probe into the leak of confidential documents on the age of Army chief General VK Singh has concluded that it was Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash who leaked the documents to stall his court martial in the Sukna land scam. The Army is now considering stricter procedures for document access.
It was the Army Chief who had initiated the probe into Sukna land scam. Lt Gen Prakash faces Court Martial in Sukna land scam which will be conducted in Guwahati.
Indicted by a Court of Inquiry in the Sukna land scam last year, Lt Gen Prakash will face four charges in the General Court Martial, which will be headed by 12 Corps Commander Lt Gen Phillip Campose. Along with Prakash, the inquiry had also indicted the then 33 Corps commander Lt General P K Rath for his role in the scam involving transfer of defence land for building an educational institution and he has already been punished by a General Court Martial with severe reprimand, two-year loss of seniority and 15 years' loss of service for the purpose of pension.
Lt General Rath had given a no objection certificate (NOC) to a private developer to commercially develop a 71-acre land adjacent to the Sukna military station in Darjeeling district in December 2009 despite repeated objections by his own officers. Rath overruled objections of other officers. He also issued the NOC without informing Eastern Command or Army Headquarters. Lieutenant General Prakash, the then military secretary, had influenced Lt Gen Rath to issue a NOC to Dilip Aggarwal, the private builder who falsely claimed to be setting up an affiliate of the Mayo College in Sukna. (with PTI Inputs)