New Delhi: The survival skills that Suresh Kalmadi's political career is best known for were on full display today. He was being led into a Delhi court when a man hurled a slipper at him. Mr Kalmadi didn't miss a beat as the slipper missed him by inches and landed nearby. He continued towards court with a smile on his face.
The slipper-thrower, a lawyer named Manoj Sharma from Gwalior, was immediately detained. He has told the police he wants to fight corruption; the police in turn says it is assessing his mental stability.
In court as well, Mr Kalmadi stayed preternaturally calm as the CBI explained the evidence that led to his arrest yesterday. As Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Game, Mr Kalmadi is accused of corruption - of inducing and benefitting from it - by delivering inflated contracts to companies that charged exorbitant rates for equipment and services employed for the Games that were held in September in India.
The CBI says it is collecting evidence on a wide range of contracts to prove this. For now, it has targeted Mr Kalmadi for overpaying a Swiss firm 95 crores for timing and scorekeeping equipment that was used at different venues. Mr Kalmadi's lawyer, Hitesh Jain, passed the buck today to former Sports Minister MS Gill. "If you look at the decision-making process, the decision was ultimately taken by the Minister of Youth & Affairs, the then minister MS Gill, and no summons have been issued to him, no investigation, neither has he been called to record any statement
The CBI, however, says two of Mr Kalmadi's former aides have confessed that he pressured them to ensure that Swiss Timing won the timing-scoring-results (TSR) contract, despite its noncompetitive prices.
And after the CBI described Mr Kalmadi's behavior as "elusive and non-cooperative," the court refused to grant bail to Mr Kalmadi and said he will stay in jail for eight days.
The CBI will use that time to interrogate Mr Kalmadi. However, he says that given the fact that senior government officers including Mr Gill were aware of the deals being signed, they must be questioned too.
The BJP meanwhile says that while Mr Kalmadi's arrest is "better late than never," he is being made a scapegoat. The party has said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit must resign, accepting responsibility for the corruption that became the main currency of the sporting event. Ms Dikshit says that's not necessary.
"Whatever behavior that has been shown against Kalmadi, it is on some basis. Without basis, anything doesn't happen. So we have to look into all this, and whatever will happen, I have repeatedly said and I will again say it, that whoever will be the culprit and whatever he has done, he will be prosecuted and punished, according to law," she said.
Once a political and indispensable heavyweight in Pune, Mr Kalmadi has been suspended by the Congress. His posters were defaced yesterday by a section of his partymen at the local Congress office. It is a tumultuous fall from grace for a man who has won three Lok Sabha elections from Pune, and has served four Rajya Sabha terms.
The slipper-thrower, a lawyer named Manoj Sharma from Gwalior, was immediately detained. He has told the police he wants to fight corruption; the police in turn says it is assessing his mental stability.
In court as well, Mr Kalmadi stayed preternaturally calm as the CBI explained the evidence that led to his arrest yesterday. As Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Commonwealth Game, Mr Kalmadi is accused of corruption - of inducing and benefitting from it - by delivering inflated contracts to companies that charged exorbitant rates for equipment and services employed for the Games that were held in September in India.
The CBI says it is collecting evidence on a wide range of contracts to prove this. For now, it has targeted Mr Kalmadi for overpaying a Swiss firm 95 crores for timing and scorekeeping equipment that was used at different venues. Mr Kalmadi's lawyer, Hitesh Jain, passed the buck today to former Sports Minister MS Gill. "If you look at the decision-making process, the decision was ultimately taken by the Minister of Youth & Affairs, the then minister MS Gill, and no summons have been issued to him, no investigation, neither has he been called to record any statement
The CBI, however, says two of Mr Kalmadi's former aides have confessed that he pressured them to ensure that Swiss Timing won the timing-scoring-results (TSR) contract, despite its noncompetitive prices.
And after the CBI described Mr Kalmadi's behavior as "elusive and non-cooperative," the court refused to grant bail to Mr Kalmadi and said he will stay in jail for eight days.
The CBI will use that time to interrogate Mr Kalmadi. However, he says that given the fact that senior government officers including Mr Gill were aware of the deals being signed, they must be questioned too.
The BJP meanwhile says that while Mr Kalmadi's arrest is "better late than never," he is being made a scapegoat. The party has said that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit must resign, accepting responsibility for the corruption that became the main currency of the sporting event. Ms Dikshit says that's not necessary.
"Whatever behavior that has been shown against Kalmadi, it is on some basis. Without basis, anything doesn't happen. So we have to look into all this, and whatever will happen, I have repeatedly said and I will again say it, that whoever will be the culprit and whatever he has done, he will be prosecuted and punished, according to law," she said.
Once a political and indispensable heavyweight in Pune, Mr Kalmadi has been suspended by the Congress. His posters were defaced yesterday by a section of his partymen at the local Congress office. It is a tumultuous fall from grace for a man who has won three Lok Sabha elections from Pune, and has served four Rajya Sabha terms.
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