It was in a 12x12 CBI lock-up that Suresh Kalmadi spent his 67th birthday, far removed from the pomp that marks such occasions for the well-connected Congress MP in the past.
There was no cake, no candles and no celebrations except for a visit by his son, Sumeer and three other members of his immediate family.
The room in which he held though is in the new, swanky CBI headquarters building opened only on Saturday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. During the Prime Minister’s presence at the function where he asked the agency to act without fear, Kalmadi is said to have been shifted to the old CBI headquarters, which in no way detracted from the irony of the occasion.
The family of Mr Kalmadi, remanded to CBI custody following his arrest in the CWG scam, wanted to have a get together in his cell including cutting of a cake but the CBI wanted them to get the permission of the court which was not possible, according to a top official of the investigating agency.
Mr Kalmadi’s lawyer Hitesh Jain had approached the CBI to permit the cake-cutting but was told that this cannot be allowed without the court’s clearance.
Arrested by the CBI on April 25, Mr Kalmadi is under CBI custody for eight days.
The suspended Congress Lok Sabha MP from Pune was wished by some CBI officials questioning him in connection with the purchase of Time-Score-Result from Switzerland, agency sources said.