CBI closing in on Kalmadi, arrests 2 top CWG officials

The Central bureau of Investigation (CBI) today arrested Lalit Bhanot and V K Verma, two top officials of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee headed by Suresh Kalmadi for alleged irregularities in a Rs107-crore contract awarded to a Swiss time-keeping company.

Bhanot and Verma, secretary-general and director-general, respectively, of the CWG oraganising committee, along with Switzerland-based Swiss Timing Ltd and other unknown persons were charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating under sections 120B (IPC), 420 (IPC) and various other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

CBI raided 11 premises in Gurgaon, Noida and the National Capital Region, including the residences of Bhanot and Verma and some other officials such as R K Sacheti, joint director-general (coordination) and Sangeeta Welingkar, member of the Games Image and Look Group.

CBI is said to have seized volumes of "incriminating" documents during the searches.

"The accused officers abused their official position and entered into criminal conspiracy with a Switzerland-based company and other unknown persons to cheat the Government of India in awarding contract to the said company for acquiring Timing, Scoring and Result (TSR) System at exorbitant rates of Rs107 crore thereby causing huge loss to the government," the CBI spokesman said.

The CWG organising committee, according to the spokesman, awarded the contract to the Swiss company using surreptitious methods. He said the organising committee published the Expression of Interest (EOI) announcing that only the Swiss firm met the required criteria.