A top military official, Lt Gen Awadesh Prakash, allegedly involved in the Sukna land scam faces court martial with the Defence Minister A K Antony asking army chief General Deepak Kapoor to initiate disciplinary action against the officer.
“The Defence Minister has advised the army chief to initiate disciplinary action against Lt. Gen. Prakash (Military Secretary in the army),” highly-placed Defence Ministry sources said here on Wednesday.
Disciplinary action could lead to a court martial against Lt. Gen. Prakash, who is in the dock in the scam along with two other Lieutenant Generals and a Major General.
The army chief had earlier ordered administrative action against Gen. Prakash wherein the court martial was not a requirement. Prakash was issued a show-cause notice to which he has replied.
Lt. Gen. Prakash, considered close to the army chief, would be retiring on January 31.
Eastern Army Commander Lt. Gen. V K Singh, the 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 a 71-acre land adjacent to Sukna military station in West Bengal’s Darjeeling.
