New Delhi, Jan. 21: Unable to bear the taint at the very top, an army court martial today convicted a former deputy chief-designate, making him the senior-most serving military officer to face such ignominy.

Lt General P.K. Rath, who was the commander of the 33 Trishakti Corps in north Bengal, and who was named for the post of the deputy chief of army staff (information systems), was today found guilty on three of the seven counts by a General Court Martial (GCM) in Shillong.

The GCM was meeting in Shillong after being convened by the Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William, Calcutta. The Eastern Command headquarters is also now preparing the ground for disciplinary proceedings against Lt Gen. Avadesh Prakash, who retired last year as the military secretary to the then army chief, in the same Sukna case.

The Sukna land deal, an abortive bid to allow a Siliguri-based realtor, Dilip Agarwal, to build a Rs 295-crore establishment on land adjacent to the military station in North Bengal, was facilitated by the generals, a Court of Inquiry had found last year.

What looked at first as another dirty little land scam went on to erupt as the biggest question mark on the quality of military leadership after Gen. V.K. Singh, the then eastern army commander, stressed in internal communication to the government that the commanders had probably jettisoned their primary responsibility — that of guarding the frontiers.

The Court of Inquiry had concluded that the 33 Corps under Lt Gen. Rath, possibly under pressure from the military secretary, had ignored the strategic compulsions of the Siliguri Corridor, also known as “Chicken’s Neck” for the narrow strip that connects the Northeast with the mainland.

Immediately after he took over as the army chief in March 2010 — and even last week — Gen. V.K. Singh said the “internal health” of the army was his greatest concern. Today’s court martial verdict will help Gen. Singh restore some of the faith that he feared senior commanders were in danger of losing.

Sukna was the first in a string of land scams that singed the army. It was followed by the Adarsh highrise case in Colaba in south Mumbai.

The GCM in Shillong, under the Eastern Command and presided over by Lt Gen. I.J. Singh, found Lt Gen. Rath — an officer from the artillery regiment — guilty on three charges under the Army Act.

In plain language, the court martial has concluded that Lt Gen. Rath was wrong in asking the station commander at Sukna to grant a no-objection certificate to transfer over 70 acres to the Dilip Agarwal Geetanjali Education Trust floated by the Siliguri realtor.

Agarwal claimed that he would start a school affiliated to Ajmer’s famed Mayo College. The case broke when Mayo College complained to the army — in which many of its alumni serve — in 2008 that it had granted no such affiliation.

Rath went on to give his nod to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between his command and the businessman.

The court martial has concluded, too, that Lt Gen. Rath violated the chain of command in the army by not informing his higher headquarters of such a deal in a strategic location.

The GMC will now ask Lt Gen. Rath, who cannot leave the station till sentencing, if he wants a “mitigation of sentence”.

If Rath opts for it, he will have to explain his actions again and seek to convince the GCM why he deserves to be let off lightly. The GCM will then “close”, meaning that it will meet in-camera with the accused (Lt Gen. Rath), take into account his service record, his salary and his decorations.

The members of the court will then vote on the sentence one by one, beginning with the junior-most (so that he/she is not influenced by the seniors) before the sentence is announced. This process could be over tomorrow or it could take up to 10 days.

The first lieutenant general against whom a court martial was ordered was Surinder Kumar Sahni of the Army Supply Corps. Sahni had retired by the time the GCM had convened in Jalandhar. He has now gone to court against it.

Pratap Rath, brother of Lt Gen. Rath, told The Telegraph over the phone: “Our family stands solidly behind him. We will go up to the Supreme Court till we get justice.”

“We will not rest until he is exonerated,” said Rath, who teaches psychology in Utkal University in Orissa.

Prakash Rath, another brother and social activist, said: “A false case has been slapped against my brother. It’s absolutely a false case.”