Darjeeling Land Scam: Antony Calls Army Chief for Meeting

Defence minister AK Antony has called Army chief General Deepak Kapoor for an unscheduled meeting after an Army investigation into Darjeeling land scam recommended sacking the Military Secretary and action against three other Generals.

Antony wants an update on the land scam exposed by media last month.

A couple of days ago, an army Court of Inquiry recommended ‘termination of service’ of Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash, Military Secretary at Army HQ and one of the senior most Generals, and court martial proceedings against Lt Gen PK Rath whose appointment as Deputy Chief of Army Staff was later scrapped by the Ministry.

Besides, the inquiry suggested disciplinary action and court martial against Major General P Sen and administrative action against Lt Gen Ramesh Halgali, who is presently commanding 11 Corps.

Earlier, the Defence Minister ordered a separate inquiry into the land scam case and instructed the Defence Secretary for a detailed report on the investigation.

A meeting was held today to discuss the report and recommendations sent by the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen VK Singh.

It should be noted that the Army chief has the option of accepting, diluting or overruling the recommendations.

Reports said that action in the scam would depend a lot on how seriously political leadership takes the matter.

The inquiry found links between Prakash and a Siliguri real estate developer, Dilip Agarwal, who brokered a controversial land deal in Darjeeling.

Through phone records, the inquiry established, that Agarwal, who secured no-objection certificates from the Army to purchase nearly 70 acres near the 33 Corps HQ in Sukna was in constant touch with Prakash while the deal was being sealed.