CWG scam: CBI grills Kalmadi for over eight hours

Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee Chief Suresh Kalmadi was today questioned for over eight hours by CBI officials here in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the conduct of the sports event.

CBI sources said Kalmadi was quizzed on payments relating to the Queen Baton's Relay held in London in 2009 besides on contracts for several hundred crores awarded to certain firms.

Kalmadi's questioning started around 10.30 AM at the CBI headquarters. He left the premises at 6.45 PM without speaking to the media.

The agency had raided his Pune and Delhi premises on December 24 during which several documents and four computers were seized.

The sleuths have grilled Kalmadi's three key aides in connection with the scam. Sources said Manoj Bhori, political advisor to the OC head, P K Srivastava and A K Sinha, both assistants to Kalmadi, were also called for interrogation.

Besides Kalmadi, the CBI had also conducted raids at the residence of OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot, R K Sacheti, who is joint director general of the OC, and Sangeeta Welingkar, member of the Games Image and Look Group.

The agency has so far filed three FIRs in connection with the alleged financial irregularities in the conduct of the mega sporting event.

While one case is related to a Rs 107-crore deal struck with a Swiss score keeping firm, the CBI had registered two other FIRs in connection with the contract given to AM Films for the Baton Relay ceremonies.

According to sources, the agency is looking at the possibility of registering a case on the charge of destruction of evidence against unknown OC officials.

They said that some of the crucial documents which could throw light on the Games deals have gone missing. The probe agencies fear that they could have been either destroyed or hidden.

Sources said CBI officials have found sufficient evidence of criminal conspiracy by unidentified OC officials for allegedly tampering with documents and manipulating information in them.