Nod for CBI probe against Lalli

Mar 01, 2011 |

New Delhi

Tags:

Information and broadcasting ministry has given the go ahead for a CBI probe against suspended Prasar Bharati CEO B. S. Lalli in connection with allegations of corruption in awarding broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games.

Sources said the Ministry has given the sanction to CBI to probe Lalli's role in the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games causing Rs 135 crore loss to the exchequer.

However, it is yet to give its nod for a CBI probe to investigate Doordarshan Director-General Aruna Sharma's role in the matter. Ministry sources said they were examining the reply given by Sharma, a Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer.

Soon after getting clearance from the Prime Minister's Office to initiate action against both the officials on the basis of the recommendations of the V. K. Shunglu committee, the CBI had written to the Ministry seeking its nod to go ahead with criminal proceedings against them.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, after receiving the report, had issued directions that explanations be sought from Lalli and Sharma in the award of broadcasting rights of Commonwealth Games causing Rs.135 crore loss to the exchequer. Both Lalli and Sharma had denied allegations of any wrongdoing.

Sharma was ordered to be reverted back to the state while Lalli was suspended.

The Prime Minister decided to refer the matter to CBI after considering the report on the Host Broadcasting Issues related to the Games and the report given by Cabinet Secretary K. M. Chandrasekhar.

In its report, the committee had fixed the responsibility for providing 'undue benefit' to SIS Live and Zoom Communications primarily on Lalli and Sharma and said they cannot be recused from the acts of omission and commission which facilitated this wrong doing.

The committee had also said certain actions seem to attract penal provisions under IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act which need to be separately investigated.

The Prime Minister had also directed the ministry to review the claims made by M/s SIS LIVE, jointly with Prasar Bharati and in consultation with their financial advisers to ensure that there is no over-payment.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/60582" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-25c5f46635daf55a1c4099fc40745e46" value="form-25c5f46635daf55a1c4099fc40745e46" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80797772" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>