Court Martial in Sukna land scam begins

Marking the first such trial of a three-star general for involvement in a corruption, the court martial of Lieutenant General P K Rath began in Shillong on Tuesday in connection with the Sukna land scam.

On the first day of the trial, Rath sought an adjournment and his plea was accepted by presiding officer of the General Court Martial Lieutenant General I J Singh, army sources told PTI here. Earlier, the court martial was slated to begin on August 30 but was postponed for two weeks on Rath's request.

Rath was indicted along with two other Lieutenant General rank officers and a Major General by an army Court of Inquiry for issuing no objection certificates to private realtors for building educational institutions on a 70-acre

plot of land adjacent to the Sukna military station in West Bengal.

After the Court of Inquiry submitted its report last year, disciplinary action was recommended against Rath and the then Military Secretary Lieutenant General Avadesh Prakash and administrative action was initiated against Lieutenant General Ramesh Halgali and Major General P K Sen. Halgali was recently promoted as Director General, Military Training, and posted to Army Headquarters here after serving as 11 Corps Commander in Jalandhar. Summary of Evidence (SOE) against Prakash in the case is still continuing at Army's Eastern Command Headquarters in Kolkata.