In one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit the Indian Army; now it's clear that three top generals were involved. The case involves 70 acres of land, owned by the Army, in Siliguri in North Bengal. An army inquiry has found that the three generals colluded to lease this land to a group of businessmen for a project worth 290 crore. The same project had been rejected by their predecessors on security grounds, pointing out that any building on this land would overlook helipads and other sensitive army installations. The biggest offender is Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash, the Military Secretary, one of the eight Principal Staff Officers at Army Headquarters. The court of inquiry says he took undue interest in the Siliguri project, possibly because of old links with businessman Dilip Agarwal. Prakash then pressured the then-Commander of the 33 Corps, Lieutenant General PK Rath to clear the 70-acre. And then there's Lieutenant General Ramesh Halgali. At the time of the scam, he was a Major General, and deputy to Rath. He's been found guilty on administrative grounds - not giving his boss the correct advice.None of them faces any punishment yet as this was only a court of inquiry. The Army Headquarters and Ministry of Defence will have to take a final call whether one or more of them could face a court martial once the report reaches Delhi from the Eastern Command.
