2 top OC men, aides of Kalmadi, held by CBI

Feb 24, 2011 - PRAMOD KUMAR |

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested two of sacked Commonwealth Games organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi’s closest aides — former organising committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot and former finance chief V.K. Verma — for alleged irregularities in giving contracts to a company. Sources also claimed the Central Bureau of Investigation had gathered enough evidence against Mr Kalmadi.

The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the two aides while they were being questioned at its headquarters. Officials said they had failed to satisfactorily reply to questions put to them. They had mentioned the names of certain former and current CWG officials, and claimed that contracts were decided by the CWG board, which included Mr Kalmadi and government representatives.
Confronting Mr Kalmadi with this evidence is now imminent, sources said. “Even otherwise, there is sufficient evidence over the Queen’s Baton Relay and overlays contracts,” they added. Wednesday’s arrests were in connection with a `107-crore contract for the Commonwealth Games, and sources said the duo had ignored the advice of international consultants to not award it to the company. Commonwealth Games joint director-general (coordination) R.K. Sacheti, whose name cropped up in the Central Vigilance Commission investigations, and Sangeeta Welingkar, member of the Games Image and Look Group, are likely to be called for questioning again.

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