Disgraced Kalmadi gets a slipper and the pink slip from IOA post
It has been an eventful day for shamed former Commonwealth Games boss Suresh Kalmadi.
A slipper was hurled at him at a court complex here today by a 42-year-old former lawyer who claimed that he was 'sent by God' to eradicate corruption.
Manoj Sharma, who police describe as 'mentally unstable' threw the slipper at 66-year-old Kalmadi, who was escorted by a posse of policemen, as he entered the Patiala Court Complex for being produced before a special CBI court after being arrested yesterday for his alleged involvement in irregularities in Commonwealth Games projects.
Kalmadi has been accused of awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the exchequer.
Sharma, whose registration was revoked by the Gwalior Bar for improper behaviour earlier, told police that he was 'sent by God to eradicate corruption' when asked why he did so, a senior police official said.
Sharma, who hails from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, was also earlier convicted for stabbing a Sub Divisional Magistrate, a report which the police is verifying, the official said.
Eight days police custody
Meanwhile, Kalmadi, who spent the night in CBI custody, was sent to police custody till May 4. He is also not elligible for bail for 90 days with sleuths adding charges of forgery in an FIR.
The three additional charges added in the FIR include sections 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
While sending him to police custody, Additional District Judge Talwant Singh said Kalmadi 'would be medically examined after every 48 hours and could also meet relatives and counsellors every day for 40 minutes'.
Addressing the court, packed with people who had to be told to move back so that proceedings could begin, the public prosecutor sought 14 days police custody and said Kalmadi's behaviour was 'evasive and non cooperative'.
Fired from Indian Olympics Association
Also, Kalmadi's 15-year tenure as the IOA president came to an abrupt end today after he was sacked from the post.
Veteran sports administrator V.K. Malhotra was then 'unanimously' named as the acting president. The swift action to end Kalmadi's reign as the supremo was taken by the IOA officials in a meeting chaired by Malhotra himself, citing clause 13B of the constitution which empowers the vice-president to take interim charge in the absence of the president.
Malhotra said he will call a meeting of the IOA Executive Board at the earliest in consultation with the Secretary General Randhir Singh, who is out of town, and discuss the situation arising out of the arrest of Kalmadi.
"IOA constitution is very clear, there cannot be vacuum and work of the IOA will have to continue. So I have accepted to work as the acting president of the IOA," Malhotra told reporters after the meeting.
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