Actor Gul Panag and her father Lt Gen (retd) H S Panag, who had a run-in with Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor, have both welcomed Defence Minister A K Antony’s intervention in the land scandal to ensure a court martial against the Military Secretary.

In a series of posts on networking site Twitter today, Gul Panag has accused the Army Chief of being “spineless” and trying to save “his buddy’s neck” – a reference to Military Secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash.

“It’s a first. MOD (Defence Ministry) had to step in as COAS (Chief of Army Staff) continued his stand of trying to protect the said generals…now why was he protecting them?” Gul Panag wrote.

In 2008, Gul’s father was removed as Northern Army Commander within weeks of conducting an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the purchase of tents that were made under General Kapoor’s tenure.

Lt Gen Panag had even met Antony to register his protest on the issue. However, Kapoor posted Panag as Central Army Commander, a year before his retirement. Lt Gen Panag is currently a member of the Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Lt Gen Panag declined to comment on his daughter’s posts. But in his tweets, Lt Gen Panag endorsed Antony’s move and said: “The person who has to take action is the COAS (Chief of Army Staff). RRM’s (Raksha Mantri) missive is an advice from a superior authority. Being a legal matter, onus on COAS.”