Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, pressing for bail to Kalmadi, told Special CBI Jugde Talwant Singh that the award of TSR contract was always in the knowledge of Jarnail Singh as the OC CEO but he has not been named in the charge sheet."
"It seems CBI has conspicuously chosen to protect certain government officials," he submitted.
He also contended CBI had not obtained necessary sanction to prosecute him. He said he was a person appointed by the government and the cognizance of the charge sheet was taken in the absence of sanction.
He also told the court that the charge sheet filed against him was incomplete.
"CBI has filed the charge sheet without completing the investigation and has not stated complete facts, which is a cause of concern."
He also said CBI had submitted before the court that its investigation into the case is on but yet filed a charge sheet only to show the closure of the case.
CBI, however, vehemently opposed the contention saying no sanction is required in cases of conspiracy, cheating and forgery.
The public prosecurtor said CBI specifically mentioned in the charge sheet that its investigation into the case is on and a supplementary charge sheet would be filed, if needed. CBI opposed Kalmadi's bail plea also on the ground that "he is an influential person and there is evidence on record that he had threatened a number of persons."
Meanwhile, counsel for former Joint Director-General (Sports) A S V Prasad also pleaded for his bail saying he was now not in office and, therefore, had no access to any document or evidence.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on May 30 as the arguments on bail plea of OC Director General (Procurement) Surjit Lal could not be taken up due to lack of time.
The judge said the orders on bail pleas of all the accused would be pronounced after completion of arguments for all of them.
CBI had in its first charge sheet filed against Kalmadi and ten others on May 20 described him as a main accused in the corruption case to award the Rs 141 crore-contract to the Swiss firm to install a Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Commonwealth Games at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.
The court had given a go-ahead to prosecute all for various offences, including those of criminal conspiracy under Section 120(B), cheating (Section 420), forgery (Section 468 and 471) of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
While Kalmadi, Prasad and Lal were arrested on April 26, Bhanot and Verma were arrested on February 23.
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