Tihar jail stay of Kalmadi, 4 other Games officials extended

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The judicial custody of sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, arrested for alleged irregularities in awarding a contract to a Swiss firm, was extended today by a Delhi court.

While remanding the suspended Congress MP to judicial custody till June 1, Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh also extended for the same period the jail custody of two other top officials of the Games organising committee - OC Joint Director General (Sport) A S V Prasad and Deputy Director General (Procurement) Surjit Lal.

The trio had been arrested on April 25 for awarding the lucrative contract to the Swiss firm to install a Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the 2010 Commonwealth Games at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.

The court also extended the judicial custody of Organising Committee's former Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and former Director General V K Verma till May 24 keeping in view the fact that the stipulated 90 days' period to file charge sheet against them after their arrest will expire on the same day.

Meanwhile, Lal and Prasad moved the court for bail and their pleas will be heard on May 20.

Kalmadi too had earlier sought bail from the court, which has reserved its order on his plea for May 21. The CBI had opposed Kalmadi's bail plea saying that he had "tarnished the image of the country".

The 66-year-old Lok Sabha MP from Pune in Maharashtra is presently lodged in Tihar Jail since May 4.

Bhanot and Verma were arrested on February 23 for allegedly committing irregularities in awarding the contract.