10 Indian Army officers, including 2 former Indian Army chiefs found guilty in Kargil for profits scam

The Army probe into the Kargil for profits scam on Thursday (March 24) faulted 10 top army officers in the scam. Two former Army chiefs have also been found guilty for their involvement in the Adarsh Housing society scam. The conduct of seven other officials has also been found to be ‘blame-worthy’.

What has now become very clear is that right from the begining there was a collusion and every army officer involved was responsible for ensuring that this scam got bigger.

If there had not been a complaint when the scam was brought to light, the building ‘Adarsh housing society’ would have been an even bigger one, flouting every possible law.

Two Army chiefs had booked flats in the building, a reson for which they were also indicted in the case. Also a large number of other officers were responsible for the scam. There are a few serving officers, especially Gen RK Hooda who was involved in the scam. Hooda, among two others involved could face ‘loss of seniority’. Hooda was recently cleared for a promotion to Lt General, but now according to sources his promotion is doubtful.

According to sources, the possibility of a court martial of the army officers involved has been ruled out for now.

The Army Court of inquiry will hand over the evidence it has gathered to the CBI to conduct further probe into the matter.

After probing the role of its officials including a serving Major General in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam in Mumbai, the Army has submitted its Court of Inquiry report in the case to the Defence Ministry.

The CoI was ordered by Army’s Pune-based Southern Command to investigate the role of Maj Gen Ram Kumar Hooda and various other officers for issuing No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to the private housing society to construct a 31-storeyed complex on a plot in Colaba.

Hooda was the Mumbai-based area commander for Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. “The CoI was completed and submitted with the Defence Ministry last week,” Defence Ministry sources said.

In the report, the Army has stated that the land on which the controversial building was constructed belonged to it and the NOC was issued to private builders in violation of rules, they said.

The 104-apartment society got embroiled in a controversy after the navy had raised concerns over security as the building over-looked important military installations.

On December 9 last year, Defence Minister A K Antony had ordered a CBI probe to fix responsibility of the armed forces and defence estates officers in the housing scam. He had asked the CBI to look into the circumstances under which a ‘No Objection Certificate’ was issued to the housing society to construct the 31-storey building on a piece of land, which was in the “de facto” possession of the

Army.

The probe agency was also asked to investigate into the commitments made for allotment of flats in the society for Kargil widows and martyrs’ families.

Former army chiefs Gen Deepak Kapoor and N C Vij, apart from former navy chief Admiral Madhavendra Singh had flats allotted in their names in the housing society.

Soon after the scam came to light, the defence ministry had asked the Army, Navy and the defence estates to submit a report on the issue.