Pargat-led Clean Sports India welcomes Kalmadi's arrest

Pargat said that though the arrest of Kalmadi was delayed, it was a welcome step.

"It is late but better late than never," Pargat said.

"CSI looks at this development as an opportunity to kick start the reforms of Indian Sports Federations as Kalmadi was a stumbling block for any reforms," he said.
CSI Convenor BVP Rao said the arrest of Kalmadi was a historic moment in the sports administration of the country.

"Kalmadi was the symbol of corruption in sports for over quarter century," Rao said in a release.

"The coming days would not be attractive to politicians to take over sports bodies with the bad publicity of Kalmadi's arrest. Hence, sports persons should take this opportunity to send politicians back home," he said.

Former sprinter and CSI member Ashwani Nachappa said that she will back Sports Minister Ajay Maken on his plan to bring the sports legislation to restrict the terms and age of office bearers of sports federations.

Kalmadi was today arrested by CBI for allegedly awarding a contract for the Commonwealth Games to a Swiss company at an inflated rate of Rs 141 crore in a "pre-meditated" manner.

Kalmadi's arrest was announced after his day-long questioning at the CBI headquarters, the fourth since December last, in connection with the alleged irregularities related to the award of contract for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) System for the Games to Swiss Timekeeping.