CBI arrests Suresh Kalmadi

The CBI officially confirmed on Monday that ex-CWG OC chief Suresh Kalmadi had been found guilty of wrongdoings in the working of the Delhi Games and he had indeed given the tenders to certain ‘favoured’ companies.

New Delhi: Sacked CWG Organising Committee Chief Suresh Kalmadi was on Monday arrested by CBI on charges of cheating, conspiracy and corruption in connection with awarding some Games contracts and the ruling Congress wasted

no time in suspending the Lok Sabha MP. Six months after the end of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games that was mired in controversies and scams, the CBI finally closed in on 66-year-old Kalmadi, the CWG`s public face, arresting him for allegedly awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer. A beleaguered Kalmadi`s arrest was announced after his more than four hours questioning at the CBI headquarters, his fourth since December last, over the alleged irregularities related to the award of contract to Swiss Timekeeping and the Queens Baton Relay(QBR). The agency also arrested two other OC officials Surjeet Lal, Deputy Director General (Procurement) and A S V Prasad, Joint Director General (Sports) in the same case. Kalmadi, who came to the headquarters of the agency here in the morning, was arrested at 1530 hours, a senior CBI official said. Kalmadi, an MP from Pune, and the two other officals will be in CBI custody tonight and they will be produced in a court tomorrow. The CBI registered a case under section 120B (conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) IPC and other relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act in the case, an official said. "The CBI has today arrested the then Chairman of OC of Commonwealth Games-2010 for conspiracy to cause favour to a private firm based in Switzerland in awarding the contract for Timing, Scoring and Result system at an inflated cost of Rs 141 crore," CBI spokesperson Dharni Mishra told reporters. Kalmadi`s arrest came weeks after his close aide and OC`s Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and Director General V K Verma were arrested in the same case. CBI officials said more arrests would follow in the case. Shortly after Kalmadi`s arrest was announced, AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said the Congress has suspended Kalmadi. "The Disciplinary Committee(of the Congress has suspended Suresh kalmadi from the membership of the party," Dwievedi said. Problems also mounted for Kalmadi in the sphere of sports administration after his arrest with the Union Sports ministry writing a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) asking it to consider appointing a new president to replace him. Opposition BJP and CPI-M said the arrest of Kalmadi was "belated" and "just the tip of the iceberg" and that immediate action should be taken against others involved in alleged irregularities. BJP`s Vijay Goel demanded the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit since she has been indicted by by the Prime Minister-appointed V K Shunglu Committee that probed the games.BJP general secretary Vijay Goel said the arrest of Kalmadi had come too late and demanded that those indicted in the Shunglu Committee report, including Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, should also be put behind bars. "It is now clear that the arrest of Kalmadi in the Commonwealth Games scam has come very late. In a way though the government appears to be taking action, it is not really doing so," Goel told reporters. Goel, who was forced to quit the CWG Organising Committee after he expressed dissent over some issues, claimed that on December 7, 2009, there were anomalies in the Games preparations. "They were not ready to accept the allegations of corruption. Kalmadi was purposely given more time before his arrest. Government delayed this action," he said. He insisted that immediate action should be taken against those found guilty by the V K Shunglu Committee. "Why has Shiela Dikshit not been arrested though she was found guilty by the Shunglu Committee. There was a loss of crores of rupees due to the delay caused by the Chief Minister and senior officials," Goel said. The BJP leader also demanded action against the then Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and other officials. "The Delhi government, CPWD, PWD, Organising Committee, Urban Development Ministry and others were involved in CWG scam," Goel alleged. He sought to know from the CBI why it caused a delay of three months in filing the charge sheet in the case. Goel further alleged that the Shunglu Committee report had been sent to the Union Home Ministry for "managing" the CWG case. Meanwhile, demanding Dikshit`s "immediate arrest" on the basis of the Shunglu Committee report, Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta alleged that bungling of Rs 1,500 crore was committed at the level of the city government. "The Chief Minister changed the rules of Finance Department to commit bungling in the name of Games projects. Shunglu Committee has found her directly responsible for bungling on the basis of many documents," he claimed. He also demanded seizing of all documents related to CWG contracts given by the Delhi government. PTI