CWG case: Delhi court slaps Rs 10,000 fine on CBI

Delhi court slapped Rs 10,000 fine on CBI for filing additional documents at "belated stage of trial" in Commonwealth Games (CWG) related to corruption case in which 2,600 pages have been recorded.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday slapped a cost of Rs 10,000 on CBI for filing additional documents at the "belated stage of trial" in a Commonwealth Games (CWG) related to a corruption case in which evidence of over 2,600 pages have already been recorded. Special CBI Judge Ravinder Kaur directed the agency to deposit Rs 10,000 with the Prime Minister`s Relief Fund within 15 days observing that its conduct in filing the additional documents at this stage is not "being appreciated".

The order came on a plea filed by CBI seeking permission to place on record two additional documents regarding payments made by CWG organising committee(OC) to M/s ITDC/ARMS and Time Line Production for video coverage during Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly held here from October 4 to 14, 2009. The agency has alleged OC`s former Director General V K Verma, facing trial in the case along with Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi and others, had made an announcement in the CGF general assembly on October 12, 2009 that timing, scoring and results (TSR) systems will be provided by Swiss Timing Ltd whereas no bid from any firm was received till then. The court allowed the plea filed by CBI saying "in the interest of justice, the application of the prosecution is allowed but subject to exemplary cost of Rs 10,000 as the conduct of the prosecution in approaching the court at this belated stage for filing additional documents is not being appreciated..." It also said "rather it leads to the inference that the prosecution is taking the court for granted that it can be approached as and when desired by the prosecution at its own convenience." Senior Public Prosecutor V K Sharma had filed the plea and argued these documents were important for the case and "inadvertently" it could not be mentioned in the list of documents filed along with the charge sheet. All the accused had opposed CBI`s plea contending it was a "mischievous attempt" on the agency`s part to file such application at this stage and it was done only to delay the trial. Earlier in July this year, the court had slapped a cost of Rs 10,000 on CBI for its "unwarranted conduct" in creating "unnecessary confusion" and delay in proceedings in the case. The court had imposed the cost while allowing CBI`s plea for placing on record some additional documents and list of some additional witnesses to be called for recording of their statements in the case. According to court sources, the court has till date recorded the evidence running into more than 2,600 pages in the ongoing trial in the case in which over 40 CBI witnesses have been examined. The trial in the case had commenced in February this year. The court had earlier put Kalmadi and nine others on trial in the case and invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and other offences against them entailing life imprisonment as maximum punishment. The court had framed charges against Kalmadi, who was sacked as CWG OC chairman, and other accused, also including OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot, for offences punishable under IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the state exchequer. All the accused have been charged under various sections of IPC, including section 467 (forgery of a valuable security), which entails life term as maximum punishment. The accused were chargesheeted by CBI for "illegally" awarding a contract to install TSR system for the 2010 CWG to Swiss Timing at inflated rates causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer. Besides Kalmadi and Bhanot, among the other accused in the case are V K Verma, former Director General (Procurement) Surjit Lal, former Joint Director General (Sports) A S V Prasad and former Treasurer M Jayachandran. They are no more associated with the sports body. Apart from the six, promoters of two construction firms - P D Arya and A K Madan of Faridabad-based Gem International and A K Reddy of Hyderabad-based AKR Constructions- are also accused in the case. AKR Constructions is also an accused in the case.