Lt Gen Rath found guilty in Sukna land scam

New Delhi, January 21 (CNN-IBN): For the first time in the history of Indian Army a serving Lieutenant General has been found guilt in a scam. In an unprecedented court-martial of a high-ranking serving officer, Lt General PK Rath was found guilty on three counts in the Sukna land scam case on Friday. Lt Gen Rath was found guilty after a General Court Martial proceeding, headed by Presiding officer Lt Gen IJ Singh, in Shillong. He has been found guilty of wrongfully granting a no objection certificate and a MoU to a private real estate developer. The sentencing is on Saturday.
Lt General Rath was GoC 33 Corps when he granted a NoC and signed the MoU. He was indicted earlier by a Court of Inquiry. Another senior Army officer and former Military Secretary, Lt General Avadhesh Prakash, is also an accused in the land scam case.
At the heart of the scam is 70 acres of land at Sukna in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. A NOC from Army is needed for any land next to a military installation. The land scam came into the open in mid-2008 and the names of Lt Gen Rath and Lt Gen Prakash figured among the senior army officers who influenced the decision to issue the NOC to a Siliguri-based private builder to construct an educational institution on a 70-acre land adjacent to the Sukna military station in Darjeeling.
The private builder floated a trust - Agarwal Geetanjali Education Trust - to set up an affiliate school of the prestigious Mayo College in the area. Major General Ramesh Halgali was the whistleblower in the case.