Shunglu panel starts questioning

The enquiry into corruption charges in the recently-held Commonwealth Games got off to an early start at its first floor office in Vigyan Bhavan this morning, with former comptroller and auditor general V K Shunglu calling T P Singh, M Arya, Vijay Kumar and S C Gupta, officials and contractors associated with the event, to appear before the probe panel and explain their roles.

T P Singh is the managing director of Sweka Engineering Works, a private company against which CBI had filed a case for causing a loss of over Rs 3.5 crore in connection with a street-lighting project which was to have been completed before the Commonwealth Games.

The matter was referred to the central investigating agency by the chief vigilance commissioner.

Shantanu Consul, secretary, department of personnel and training, was also present but left midway to attend a meeting with the Union law minister. Consul, who retires from his present position on October 31, has been asked to be part of Shunglu’s team after his retirement.

Shunglu reached Vigyan Bhawan at 10 am, met his core team an hour after and briefed them on their objective. A majority of the staff of Shunglu’s team consists of former CAG staff and are believed to be his trusted men. Most of them remained tight-lipped about the inquiry and said it was still in a very early stage. The staff said the scope of the committee, according to the terms of reference, was quite wide and they were “looking at everyone at this instant”.