CBI arrests two Commonwealth Games OC officials

NEW DELHI - Two key aides of Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) chief Suresh Kalmadi - T.S. Darbari and Sanjay Mohindroo - were arrested Monday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for their alleged involvement in the Queen’s Baton Relay scam, CBI DIG Anurag said.

The CBI raided the residential premises and the office of the two officials before arresting them. Darbari and Mohindroo had been suspended from their CGOC posts earlier this year after the scam surfaced.

“A case was registered against the then joint DG revenue, marketing and chairman’s secretariat Darbari, then deputy marketing DG Mohindroo, a London based transport firm, its director and others,” Anurag told reporters here.

He said that it is alleged that the accused officials of the CGOC, in conspiracy with a London based transport firm - AM Car and Van and The Chauffer Company - and its director, awarded work to the firm at exorbitant rates without following the standard tendering process.

“The work was awarded on the first premise that the firm was on the panel of the Indian high Commission in London,” Anurag said.

He said that two e-mails were allegedly forged by the two CGOC officials to justify the selection of the firm.

“The second case was registered against Darbari, Mohindroo and a London-based private firm dealing in audio visual equipment, its director and others. It is alleged that the accused officials in conspiracy with the firm awarded the work of installation of video screens at the venue of Queen’s Baton Relay at exorbitant rates,” Anurag added.

The second company is AM Films, a sister concern of the transport firm.

Darbari and Mohindroo will be produced in the Patiala House Court Tuesday, Anurag added.

They have been arrested under sections 468 (forgery of court records and public documents), 471 (Using forged documents as genuine), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. They have also been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The organising committee is understood to have paid AM Films, an Indian-owned firm, over 450,000 pounds for services during the Queen’s Baton Relay function in London in October 2009 allegedly without following proper tendering procedures and paper work.