CWG scam: Kalmadi's lockers searched by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today searched two bank lockers in Pune of former Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee Chief Suresh Kalmadi in connection with alleged irregularities in the conduct of the mega sporting event last year.

The lockers in ICICI Bank and Saraswat Bank were sealed by the agency in December which have been opened now, official sources said.

The lockers were sealed by the CBI in December during its searches on the residential and official premises of Kalmadi in Pune and Delhi in connection with the award of video installation work for the Queen's Baton Relay to a London-based private firm allegedly at inflated rates.

Several of Kalmadi's top aides including former Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and V K Verma, Director General in the Organising Committee, have been arrested in the last few months for alleged financial irregularities in various cases pertaining to the sporting event.

Bhanot and Verma were arrested on allegations of irregularities in award of contract to a company Swiss Time Keeping.

In December, the CBI team had carried out searches on the premises of Kalmadi in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

Besides Kalmadi, the premises of his personal secretary Manoj Bhure in Pune were also searched by the CBI. Kalmadi's farm house at Khadakwasla near Pune and the "Sai Service" petrol station owned by him in Pune were among his properties searched in December.