Antony summons Army chief to discuss Darjeeling probe report

With four Generals coming under cloud over alleged fraud in the sale of a civilian land near Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday summoned Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor for a meeting.

With four Generals coming under cloud over alleged fraud in the sale of a civilian land near Darjeeling, Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday summoned Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor for a meeting in which they reportedly discussed the contents of the probe on the issue.

HT Image

Antony, on his return from Hyderabad in the afternoon, called for a meeting with Kapoor and the two were closeted for about 40 minutes, Defence Ministry officials said this evening.

"It was a closed door, one-on-one meeting," officials said, denying knowledge of the meeting's agenda.

Army military secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash, Deputy Chief of Army Staff-designate Lt Gen P K Rath, 11 Corps Commander Lt Gen Ramesh Halgalli and Major General P C Sen were reportedly found culpable for issuing a No-Objection Certificate to a private institution, which falsely claimed to set up an affiliate of the famed Ajmer-based Mayo College, adjacent to Sukhna military station.

The Court of Inquiry into the fraud, which was completed a fortnight ago, had submitted its report, on the basis of which Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen V K Singh reportedly made recommendations to Army Chief to initiate strict action against these senior officers, who had a role in the NOC episode.