Kalmadi arrested in CWG scam, suspended by Cong

Kalmadi arrested in CWG scam, suspended by Cong

Sacked CWG Organising Committee Chief Suresh Kalmadi has been 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  in New Delhi Monday 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 on Monday night and they will be produced in a court on Tuesday.

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.