JOIN USWhile the CBI is tightlipped about the role Kalmadi might have played in transactions related to several Games projects, which led to cost overruns and wastage of funds, it moved on Monday to arrest OC joint director general T S Darbari and deputy director general Sanjay Mahendroo, who were suspended from their positions after the mega-event concluded last month.
The investigating agency conducted raids at the residential premises of Darbari and Mahendroo and then slapped cases of forgery and cheating on the duo. The CBI is believed to have found evidence that two e-mails that justified the selection of AM Films, a London-based company, for the Queen’s Baton Relay, 2009, were forged.
The e-mails, agency sources said, were used to inflate bills. More searches are underway and some more arrests are expected. The cases against Darbari and Mahendroo form part of the CBI’s first FIRs in Games-related corruption and the two suspended officials have been given a six-hour deadline to respond to the charges.
Agency sources said the OC reportedly paid £ 2,50,000 to AM Films, owned by Ashish Patel, without any authentic contract documents in place. The OC is understood to have paid AM Films the amount for services without following proper tendering procedures and paper work.
“The contract was awarded on the false premise that the firm was on the panel of the Indian High Commission, London. Two e-mails were allegedly forged by the officials of the Organising Committee to justify the selection of the firm,” the CBI said in a statement.
The doctored e-mails suggest that AM Films was recommended by the Indian High Commission to provide services like screens, taxis and portable toilets for the London event. Besides, the CBI has found that the email email from Indian High Commission employee Raju Sebastian was deliberately sent to Games Director Raj Singh. The agency probe so far reveals that another firm, AM Cars, was paid a high rate of £375 against the High Commission’s £ 200. The CBI carried out searches at four places here and in the National Capital Region, including the office of the OC at Jantar Mantar.