The Court of Inquiry into the Darjeeling land scam case has brought out that a Siliguri real estate developer and one of the seniormost generals in the Army were in constant touch while a dubious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was being drafted to clinch the land deal. The CoI has established through phone records that real estate developer Dilip Agarwal, who inked the MoU to obtain No Objection Certificates from the Army for 71 acres near the 33 Corps HQ in Sukna Cantonment, was in constant touch with Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash, Military Secretary (MS) at Army HQ, while the deal was being sealed.
While Lt Gen Prakash did not have a direct role in granting the NOCs, the CoI has brought out that that he used his influence as one of the seniormost officers in the Army to ensure that the deal went through. The case, which is turning out to be a big scandal involving top Army officers, unravelled after it came to light that a massive land deal in Sukna was cleared by the Army against norms.
Lt Gen Prakash, who was called to Kolkata for questioning in the case, admitted he had known Agarwal for more than a decade. He was called for questioning after Lt Gen P K Rath, whose appointment as Deputy Chief of Army Staff has since been scrapped by the Ministry of Defence, told the CoI that an educational institution had been recommended by Lt Gen Prakash. The inquiry has also established that Lt Gen Prakash was in constant touch with Lt Gen Rath and Agarwal while the deal was being struck.
The CoI also probed allegations that Lt Gen Prakash was being offered the role to head the upcoming school if the deal went through. Sources said that the findings of the CoI, which concluded over the weekend, have been sent to the Eastern Army Commander for confirmation. The Defence Ministry, which has already asked for a report on the issue, is now expected to intervene given that two of the seniormost Generals have been indicted in the inquiry. The Army has been asked to expedite the inquiry and fix responsibility at the earliest by Defence Minister A K Antony who has also sent a strongly worded note to Army HQ on the issue.
Military Secretary faces court martial
NEW DELHI: Chief of the Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor, on Friday accepted the advice of Defence Minister A.K. Antony by ordering court martial proceedings against Military Secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash for his alleged involvement in a land scam in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal. He would be the first three-star general to face such action.
General Kapoor was overruled by Mr. Antony who felt the alleged misdemeanours of General Prakash were serious enough to merit a court martial and not just disciplinary proceedings preferred by the Army chief.
As Military Secretary, General Prakash is one of the closest aides to the Army chief in dealing with daily matters and policy planning. The general is due to retire in a couple of days.
General Prakash was indicted in an internal probe at the command level along with the then 33 Corps Commander Lieutenant General P.K. Rath, his Chief of Staff at that time, Lieutenant General Ramesh Halgali and then Brigadier Administration Major General P.C. Sen. Following a court of inquiry, Eastern Army Commander Lieutenant General V.K. Singh, who will be the next Army chief, had recommended termination of service of General Prakash and administrative action against the other officers.
The controversy arose after General Kapoor recommended court martial proceedings against Lieutenant General Rath and issued show-cause notice to others for administrative action. It was felt by many in the Army that General Kapoor was being unfair as all four officers should have been meted out the same punishment. Mr. Antony overruled the Army chief.
The officers were found culpable by an internal probe for overruling their predecessors and issuing a no objection certificate to a private developer to lease 71 acres of land next to the Sukna military station near Darjeeling. The developer was also found to have falsely represented that he would open an educational institution affiliated to the prestigious Mayo College, Ajmer.
The probe at the command level had allegedly indicted Lieutenant General Rath for inking a pact with the property developer provided a certain percentage of seats was reserved for children of armed forces personnel. Lieutenant General Prakash was seen as being too interested in the case and persuading his juniors to pursue the deal.
Lieutenant General Halgali was alleged to have suppressed information from his seniors and Major General P.C. Sen was said to have played an active role in discussions with the developer during his tenure at the 33 Corps headquarters.
-------
Indian Army Chief licks his own spit
— General Deepak Kapoor succumbs to General VK Singh’s onslaught
— Orders Court Martial against Lt Gen Prakash, reversing his orders of Administrative action
— Indian Army’s Military Secretary ends career with outrageous stains on uniform
— The Daily Mail remains the first to have broken the news about “War of Generals in Indian Army”
From Christina Palmer & Ajay Mehta
New Delhi—The War of generals in Indian Army seems to be lingering on with full sensation with Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor submitting to the latest onslaught of the Army Chief designate Lt. General Vijay Kumar Singh as General Kapoor was left with no other option but to lick his own spit when following Defence Minister’s clear cut orders the Indian Army Chief reversed his own orders of initiating Administrative Action against the Military Secretary Lt. General Avadesh Prakash and finally, on Friday, issued revised orders of commencing Disciplinary Action by convening the Court Martial against the disgraced Military Secretary, involved in corruption through wrongful sale of military lands, reveal the findings of The Daily Mail.
Acting on the “advice” of Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Indian Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor has ordered a Court Martial of his top aide Lt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash for his involvement in a land scam in West Bengal’s Sukhna cantonment, a defence officials announced here on Friday.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the Indian Defence Minister had overturned the Army Chief’s earlier orders of initiating ‘administrative’ action against his top aide Prakash, especially since the indicted officer has been accused of being the kingpin in the entire conspiracy to aid the transfer of a 71-acre tea estate adjacent to Sukhna military station to his family friend and real estate developer Dilip Agarwal. These findings indicate that although Lt Gen Prakash retires from army service tomorrow (January 31), he will still be governed by the Army Act and can face a court martial. His punishment could vary from dismissal from service to cut of pay and pension. Depending on the severity of the offence, he could even face imprisonment.
Disgraced with stains on uniform
Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that indicate that the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen V K Singh who is also the Indian Army Chief designate, had recommended tough action against Lt Gen Prakash and other accused officials on the basis of a Court of Inquiry which indicted them for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for sale of military land adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal’s Darjeeling. However, General Deepak Kapoor, instead, by passing the recommendations of Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch, initiated and Administrative action and not a Disciplinary action when he was pressurized by the Defence Ministry to initiate swift action against the involved army officers in the said land scam.
The Daily Mail’s findings further indicate that General Singh held two detailed meetings with Defence Minister Antony as the Fort Williams boss visited New Delhi in connection with the Republic Day engagements, after being formally nominated by the government as the upcoming Army Chief. These findings indicate that during his meetings, General Singh forced the Defence Minister to order General Kapoor to reverse his (Kapoor’s) earlier orders of initiating Administrative action against the top army officers, including the Military Secretary of the Indian army, Lt. General Prakash. The sources told this scribe that General Singh was told by the Defence Minister that since General Prakash was going to retire any way within a week’s time and was already facing an Administrative action so there was no need to punish him any harder. But General Singh showed no flexibility in his demand and insisted for conversion of Administrative action orders into Disciplinary action orders against Prakash by Kapoor after which Defense Minister ordered general Kapoor for the same.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that earlier, on 14th of this month, General Deepak Kapoor had ordered an Administrative action instead of disciplinary action against the Generals, proved guilty of compromising India’s national security through a massive military land scam, defying the recommendations of Military Headquarters’ Judge Advocate Generall (JAG) branch, the commander of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army, Lt, General V.K Singh insists for a disciplinary action against the guilty Generals as he stands by the findings and recommendations of the Court of Inquiry (CoI), convened by him These findings indicate that investigations by the Eastern Command of the Indian Army did find that senior officers, including the top aide to the army chief, overrode national security concerns to strike a deal with a realtor in north Bengal’s Siliguri Corridor, the strategic “Chicken’s Neck” that runs between three international boundaries and connects the Northeast with the rest of the country.
These findings indicate that Army Headquarters, on special directives of Army Chief General Kapoor, issued show-cause notices for administrative action against Military Secretary Lt Gen. Avadhesh Prakash, Lt Gen. Ramesh Halgali and Maj. Gen. P. Sen and disciplinary proceedings (that may lead to a court martial) against Lt Gen. P.K. Rath while till Sunday all of them were facing disciplinary action under the same charges.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the information that dripped out on the “Sukna land scam” from Army Headquarters clearly painted a story of corruption while, sources in army headquarters insist that there was no “scam”, a view that reflects the opinion of the realtor, Dilip Agarwal, the contractor, too.
The Daily Mail’s findings reveal the outcomes and the opinion of the Court of Inquiry that was convened by the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen. V.K. Singh, in Fort William invest far greater strategic importance in the case.
These findings indicate that the 33 Corps, headquartered in Sukna, was facilitating underhand commerce in a corridor it is tasked to protect militarily. The area of responsibility of the 33 Corps is on the China front and includes territory in Sikkim, north Bengal and Bhutan.
However the Officers Commanding it and the Military Secretary, in charge of posting the officers and troops, not only ignored security concerns in allowing a commercial project on land adjacent to its headquarters but also actively facilitated Agarwal’s venture.
These findings reveal that they bent rules, altered policies, escorted the realtor, ignored the higher (Eastern) command, tailored formal agreements to suit the deal and put pressure on juniors to hurry it through while they kept suppressing evidence, the Court of Inquiry had found. All the while, the Military Secretary was in constant touch with Agarwal. Lt Gen. Prakash introduced Agarwal to the 33 Corps Commander and deputy chief-designate (now the appointment has been cancelled), Lt Gen. Rath, as a family friend, the court of inquiry says in its report forwarded to army headquarters.
These findings further reveal that Agarwal used to visit the Military Secretary in his house in Delhi. Agarwal and Lt Gen. Prakash were likely to have met when the military secretary served as commander of the Indian Military Training Team (Imtrat) in Bhutan, within the 33 Corps’ area of responsibility.
Agarwal issued a media release in Siliguri on December 31, 2009 in which he said: “The question of an ‘army land scam’ does not arise. The land never belonged to the army and the controversy is unnecessary.” However, toeing Agarwal’s line, a day after the show-cause notices were issued, Army Headquarters officials said that they did not know why the Eastern Army commander had recommended such strong action (“termination of service”) against the military secretary because “we never owned the land and, therefore, there is no scam. Only you guys and the General and Fort Williams appear to be knowing about it”, said at senior officer at the Army Headquarters when contacted by this scribe.
The Daily Mail’s findings disclose that what Indian Army Headquarters’ spin maestros are conveniently ignoring is that the force was actually in the process of acquiring the land from the Bengal government because of security concerns. The Bengal government appreciated these concerns and had conveyed to the army that it was “favourably disposed” towards transferring the land.
These findings further disclose that controversy relates to a “tea tourism” project to build villas and malls in an estate surrounded by army units. When construction was stopped, an “education” project was proposed to get around the ban.
The Court of Inquiry found that Agarwal had floated the Geetanjali Education Trust registered in Ghaziabad in 2001. “It has not functioned in a true sense and has constructed no school or college so far,” the report said. Agarwal was “reluctant to part with information regarding his companies”. Yet, the 33 Corps Headquarters entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with him after deleting “Paragraph 17” of the draft. The report describes this clause as “the most potent” paragraph because it gave rights to the army to terminate the MoU “on security grounds”.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that in their review of the case, the investigators reported that the Chumta Tea Estate spread over 2,711 acres was on a 33-year lease from the Bengal government. It is inside the Sukna military station and is surrounded by army units.
Of this land, nearly 72 acres were barren and was handed over to the Bengal government. The Bengal government in turn offered it on lease to four firms (Mata Vaishnodevi Mercantile Pvt Ltd, Sheetla Vyapaar Pvt Ltd, Akshara Vanijya Pvt Ltd and JF Low and Co Ltd) represented by S. Bajoria.
“The barren portion of 71.55 acres is enclosed like a lobe within the tea garden, with one side literally bordering the (33) Corps Headquarters,” the CoI report said and pointed out that “the sensitivities of the Siliguri Corridor also necessitated that no civil construction be permitted in the close proximity of the Corps Headquarters”.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that in February 2008, the army discovered in newspaper reports that the barren land was being developed for “tea tourism” and would include a film city, villas and malls. The then Commander of 33rd Corps, Lt Gen. Deepak Raj, informed the Eastern Army Commander and told the Bengal government’s Chief Secretary that all construction on the land must be stopped. The Bengal government agreed and gave the orders accordingly.
“The army’s objections to civilian construction on Chumta Tea Estate were based on security implications, arising out of proximity of the site to corps headquarters and Ascon (the army’s dedicated telecommunications network) node,” the CoI report said.
In July-August 2008, Agarwal went to Bajoria and with him proposed building a girls’ school at the site while on December 29, 2008, Lt Gen. Rath, who was then the 33 Corps Commander, received a request for a “no-objection certificate” to establish a residential school with a franchise of Mayo College.
The Daily mail’s findings disclose that the next month, Agarwal and Bajoria met Rath. Rath forwarded the proposal from Agarwal with a note “Please examine, a new angle project we may consider” to the administration in charge, Brigadier (now Maj. Gen.) Sen.
In between, in October 2008, Military Secretary Prakash visited Sukna on an official trip and met Agarwal. He introduced Agarwal to Rath and Lt Gen. Ramesh Halgali, who was Chief of Staff of the Corps, as a friend. In July 2008, Prakash and Agarwal were said to have met Gaj Singh of Jodhpur.
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that this set the ball rolling till the MoU was signed in talks between March 18 and 20, 2009. In those three days, Agarwal and Lt Gen. Prakash were in constant touch, according to telephone records called by the investigators who describe this connection as the “influencing factor”.
These findings indicate that the Eastern Army Commander, Lt Gen. V.K. Singh, grew suspicious and called off the deal. He convened the Court of Inquiry on September 30 which finally came up with the conclusion that the generals were proved guilty and recommended disciplinary action against them. The findings of the CoI were dispatched to JAG branch and Adjutant General’s branch and JAG branch also agreed with the recommendations of the CoI of the Eastern Command but it highly irked the Army Chief General Kapoor who straight away approached the Defence Minister but to no avail. He finally managed to convince the Defence Minister Antony to handle the matter his way and on Monday, transformed orders of disciplinary action into Administration action while the Commander Eastern Command is not satisfied with this climax of the case.
Talking to The Daily Mail Lt. General (rtd) Kamal Davar said that the action should have been taken in the light of the recommendation of the CoI of the Eastern Command as it was the only body that examined and investigated the matter. He said that transformation of disciplinary action into Administration action by Army Chief against those who were found guilty of compromising national security would come up with nothing else but as source of encouragement for such elements in the Indian army in future.
