CWG OC terminates Darbari's services

Acting on the persistent plea of the Sports Ministry, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee today terminated the services of its tainted Joint Director General T S Darbari in the wake of the corruption scandal that has rocked the event.

Darbari, who had been suspended pending an inquiry after his name cropped up in alleged corruption during the Queen's Baton Relay's launch in London, has been told to hand over charge to Additional Director General V K Saxena.

"The Ministry had written several letters to OC asking for his ouster because of the cases in Enforcement Directorate and the last such communication was made on August 6. The Ministry was not happy that he was merely suspended," a source told PTI.

The OC has finally acted on the instructions and given the marching orders to Darbari, who appeared before the Enforcement Directorate today in a probe over his alleged customs violations.

"According to an order from the OC, pending an inquiry by the ED into the case of alleged involvement of Darbari, who is the Joint Director General (PSUs, sponsorship and marketing), in the payment of an unreasonable amount to a British firm at the time of the QBR ceremony in London, his services are hereby terminated with immediate effect," the source said.

"He will hand over all documents, papers and equipment to V K Saxena Additional DG (PSUs, Marketing and sponsorship)," he added.

According to OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, Darbari oversaw the QBR preparations in London, which became the focal point of a corruption storm following revelations that a little-known UK-based firm A M Films was paid lakhs of pounds for its "services" during the event.

Later, an e-mail from the Indian High Commission which Kalmadi made public to justify payments to AM Films also turned out to be doctored, forcing OC to launch a probe into the entire episode.

Although the OC probe report is yet to come out, the Sports Ministry had been demanding Darbari's removal ever since his name figured in a customs violation case.