CWG Scam: Kalmadi asks why just me?
ET Bureau, Mar 16, 2011
Chief Organiser of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi : Why just me?
Suresh Kalmadi gestures as he leaves The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Office in New Delhi on March 15, 2011. Suspended Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi was today questioned by the CBI for the second time in connection with alleged scams related to the conduct of the sporting extravaganza which took place in the Indian capital in October 2010.
NEW DELHI: Suresh Kalmadi, the sacked chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, was subjected to a protracted questioning by CBI on irregularities committed in various spheres related to the Games.
Kalmadi was ushered into the CBI headquarters at around 11 am and remained there till late evening. CBI sources said that Kalmadi was questioned about cases already registered against the OC in the AM Films, AM Cars and Vans and TSR contracts and other aspects of the Games, including merchandising, catering, CWG Village and accreditation. The investigating agency has detected huge irregularities in contracts awarded in all these areas.
"Various questions had remained unanswered. Kalmadi is being grilled on all these issues,'' CBI sources said. His examining is considered crucial for CBI to 'fill in the blanks'.
Coming out of the CBI headquarters, Kalmadi reiterated what he has been maintaining all along - that he was not solely responsible for the decisions taken and that all involved must be questioned.
Kalmadi, who is the Pune Congress MP, had been interrogated on January 5 and confronted with vital evidences on allegations of corruption in various contracts dished out by the OC. Kalmadi had remained on the denial mode all through then. He, subsequently claimed CBI could not find anything incriminating against him.
CBI had on December 24 conducted raids at Kalmadi's residences in the Capital, Pune and Mumbai, besides the OC headquarters. They had sealed lockers installed in his Pune residence, the contents of which were scrutinised later.
"Kalmadi was called by CBI for questioning today that is why he is here,'' his lawyer Hitesh Jain told newspersons. His associates on the Organising Committee, former secretary-general Lalit Bhanot and former director-general VK Verma, have already been arrested in the TSR scam. The CBI has, however, been unable to nail their boss.
The Pune Congress MP has accused CBI of launching a witch-hunt against him and his erstwhile colleagues. "I am surprised why officials of the OC are being called by investigating agencies. No decision was taken by any individual. There was a financial committee, financial sub-committee and executive committee. Central government secretaries were also part of the decision-taking bodies,'' he had said in Ranchi last month. "It was a collective decision of the committees and no individual took any decision, then why officials of OC are only being targeted,'' he had said.