CWG graft: Order reserved on Kalmadi's bail plea

The Delhi High Court Tuesday reserved its order on the bail pleas of Suresh Kalmadi, jailed MP and former chief of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, and his aide V.K. Verma accused in a corruption case related to the 2010 sporting event.

Kalmadi was arrested April 26 last year for his alleged role in awarding the contract for installing the Timing-Scoring-Result system to Swiss Times Omega at an exorbitant cost of Rs.141 crore, allegedly causing a loss of over Rs.95 crore to the public exchequer.

On Monday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court that Kalmadi may intimidate prosecution witnesses if granted bail. The probe agency also opposed Verma's bail plea.

Kalmadi and Verma moved the court for bail on the observation of the Supreme Court in the 2G case that "bail should be the rule and jail an exception".
The trial court in June 2011 rejected Kalmadi's bail plea, after which he approached the high court.

The accused individuals and two companies in the case were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.