Brig Guha new GOC of Leh-based 3 Inf Div

Jammu, Jan 18 (UNI) Brig Abhijit Guha, the Brigadier General Staff (Information Wing) of the Northern Command, has been elevated to the rank of Major General and would take over the Leh-based 3 Infantry Division under XIV Corps in Jammu and Kashmir, sources said.

''The GOC designate of 3 Infantry Division will take charge on January 22,'' sources in the Udhampur-based Northern Command told UNI.

The General officer has been an effective media manager for the Northern Command and was the pick of Lt Gen H S Panag, GOC-in-C Northern Command, for the crucial post on the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh.

''In Brig Guha, Lt Gen Panag has placed his own man as the head of the most active Division before his own proposed posting to the Lucknow-based Central Command,'' sources said, asserting that the posting of an Artillery Officer as the Commander of the crucial infantry division was a matter of point.

The 3 Infantry Division had become 'headless' after its GOC Maj Gen A K Lal was removed following 'misconduct' charges levelled against him by a subordinate woman officer.

An Army court of inquiry found Maj Gen Lal guilty of the charges levelled by Captain Neha Rawat in a case filed in September last year.

At present, the General officer is attached to the XIV Corps to face Court Martial proceedings and summary of evidence in the case, sources added.

UNI VJ PB AS1744