Suresh Kalmadi, who has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons since the conduction of Commonwealth Games (CWG) in India, was arrested at the CBI headquarters in New Delhi this morning. He was charged with irregularities in the dealings with AM Films and in the purchasing of Time Scoring Result Systems (TSR) for the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG). He has been charged under Sections 120 B and 420. The CBI is set to make a formal announcement of the arrest at 4pm today.
Having skipped a couple of the summons of the CBI for interrogation citing ill health, Kalmadi had attended his 3rd round of interrogation today, and was arrested by the CBI officials.
AM Films is a London-based firm that was hired by Kalmadi to provide taxis and portable TVs for the conduction of the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR), which sets the CWG in motion, in September 2009 in London. The firm had charged exorbitant rates for its services, and Kalmadi had sanctioned the transfer of funds to Ashish Patel (owner of AM Films), without doing the paperwork first. And he had evaded all questions regarding AM Films during the CBI investigations by saying that he was unaware of the particulars of the deal.
Kalmadi was also grilled for hiring the most expensive firms to provide the equipment and services required for the conduction of CWG. On closer examination, the CBI found that most of the "suggestions" based on which Kalmadi's team hired the firms were engineered by the close aides of minister. A mail from Team Kalmadi to Ashish Patel, wherein the former had suggested the prices that the latter should charge for services provided, was also found by the CBI.
Suresh Kalmadi will be produced in front of the court tomorrow. The CBI has stated that it has ample evidence to prove Kalmadi guilty as charged.
Meanwhile, the representatives of various political parties are demanding that Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit also be arrested for her involvement in the CWG Scam. The Shunglu Committee Report had named her one of the people responsible for the losses incurred in infrastructural projects for the CWG.