Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS) Lt. Gen. Avadesh Prakash, till now the military secretary at the Army Headquarters here, is the latest in the list of the top commanders who have been found guilty on various charges of corruption, indiscipline and sexual harassment over the past few years.
The defence ministry has recently advised the army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, to court martial Prakash after a court of inquiry established his involvement in a land scam in Sukna Cantonment in West Bengal.

Prakash has been found guilty, along with Lt. Gen. P.K. Rath, who was designated the deputy chief of army staff, of conspiring to give a no-objection certificate to an educational institution to get land near the cantonment.

The scam came to the light even while Defence Minister A.K. Antony, the ‘Mr Clean’ known for his resolve to curb corruption, has been warning of strict action against those found guilty.

In early 2007, the two lieutenant generals of the Army Service Corps (ASC) - S.K. Dahiya and S.K. Sahni - were indicted in two separate cases involving irregularities in the procurement of frozen meat for troops posted in Ladakah and discrepancies in procurement of dry rations.

In early 2009, two major generals of the Army Ordnance Corps (AOC) - Anand Swaroop and S.P. Sinha - faced separate charges of irregularities in the purchase of stores.

The two officers were in the contention for the top post of Director General of Ordnance Services (DGOS) at Army HQ. A third officer of the AOC was earlier overlooked for promotion in 2007 after he was booked in a disproportionate assets case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had carried out searches and booked Major General Anand Kapoor for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

With the three senior most officers of the AOC under the scanner in separate cases, the post of DGOS has been lying vacant for several months.

In an unprecedented case of sexual harassment, Major General A.K. Lal, who was commanding a division on India-China border, was found guilty by a military court in 2008 of the charges levelled against him by a captain serving under him. Lal was dismissed from the service.

In 2006, Major General Gur Iqbal Singh Multani was dismissed from service and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for attempting to smuggle large quantities of liquor meant for army canteens to his hometown. Multani, who last commanded the Bareilly-based 6 Mountain Division, was also stripped of his rank.

The list of officers facing charges of indiscipline and corruption include Major General B.P.S. Mander, who was charged with irregularities in the procurement of dry rations. Two other major generals - K.T.G. Nambiar and Rana Goswami - were convicted of financial irregularities in a case relating to the Central Command.

The following are some of the other scams that have hit the Indian Army:

Kargil coffin scam: The CBI has filed a charge sheet against four now retired army officers for approving the purchase of poor quality aluminium caskets from the US at “exorbitant rates” after the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan. The CBI, however, gave a clean chit to the then defence minister, George Fernandes.

Ketchup colonel: Col. H.S. Kohli was cashiered in 2004 after a court martial found him guilty of faking terrorists’ killings by photographing the “victims” — played by his troops — splashed with tomato ketchup.

Boots scam: In December 2009, an inquiry was ordered into an alleged scam in the procurement of supplies for troops going on UN missions. This was after it came to light that over the past few years, the army had shelled out double the amount on items like shoes as compared to the market price.