C'wealth Games organizer ordered into custody
Source: Agencies |
April 27, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN Indian court ordered the former chief organizer of the Delhi Commonwealth Games into police custody yesterday, as police stepped up a crackdown on businesses and government officials in a string of corruption cases to hit the emerging global giant.
Federal police on Monday arrested Suresh Kalmadi, a senior lawmaker who has been suspended from the ruling Congress Party, charged with cheating in tenders for timing equipment worth millions of dollars in the October sporting gala. Police will hold him for eight days from yesterday.
The case is one of several high-profile corruption scandals to strain the Congress Party-led government and spark protests in the Indian capital against what is seen as a culture of near impunity for the country's elite.
"The accused person entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the government of India in the manner of awarding contracts for timings, scoring and results system to be acquired for the CWG, Delhi 2010," V K Sharma, a federal lawyer for the prosecution, told the court yesterday.
Kalmadi, who has become a pantomime villain in the Indian media, had a slipper thrown at him as he made his way to a court yesterday. He has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer called the arrest "illegal."
The US$6 billion event was billed as India's answer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but descended into chaos over leaking stadiums, filthy athletes' rooms and corruption scandals.
Kalmadi's aides formed a tight phalanx around the lawmaker from the western city of Pune as he walked out of the court and the judge sat down to write the order. A female aide shouted to him: "God is with us." Rows of police armed with batons roped a path for Kalmadi to come in and out of the courtroom in New Delhi.
The Congress Party suspended Kalmadi after he was charged with favoring a Swiss firm to provide 1.4 billion rupees (US$31.6 million) worth of timing equipment for the Games.
Kalmadi, who was booed at the Games' opening ceremony in October, had his constituency office in Pune vandalized on Monday night.
Federal police on Monday arrested Suresh Kalmadi, a senior lawmaker who has been suspended from the ruling Congress Party, charged with cheating in tenders for timing equipment worth millions of dollars in the October sporting gala. Police will hold him for eight days from yesterday.
The case is one of several high-profile corruption scandals to strain the Congress Party-led government and spark protests in the Indian capital against what is seen as a culture of near impunity for the country's elite.
"The accused person entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the government of India in the manner of awarding contracts for timings, scoring and results system to be acquired for the CWG, Delhi 2010," V K Sharma, a federal lawyer for the prosecution, told the court yesterday.
Kalmadi, who has become a pantomime villain in the Indian media, had a slipper thrown at him as he made his way to a court yesterday. He has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer called the arrest "illegal."
The US$6 billion event was billed as India's answer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but descended into chaos over leaking stadiums, filthy athletes' rooms and corruption scandals.
Kalmadi's aides formed a tight phalanx around the lawmaker from the western city of Pune as he walked out of the court and the judge sat down to write the order. A female aide shouted to him: "God is with us." Rows of police armed with batons roped a path for Kalmadi to come in and out of the courtroom in New Delhi.
The Congress Party suspended Kalmadi after he was charged with favoring a Swiss firm to provide 1.4 billion rupees (US$31.6 million) worth of timing equipment for the Games.
Kalmadi, who was booed at the Games' opening ceremony in October, had his constituency office in Pune vandalized on Monday night.
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