Kalmadi aide sent to five-day CBI custody

NEW DELHI - Shekhar Deorukhkar, an aide of then Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee (OC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi, was Saturday brought before a special court here and sent to five days in remand of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an official said.

“He was presented before the magistrate in the court and has been sent to five of days in CBI remand,” CBI Deputy Inspector General Vinita Thakur told IANS.

Deorukhkar was arrested Friday afternoon from Pune and was brought to the capital on transit remand.

The CWG were held in Delhi Oct 3-14, 2010, but were marred by allegations of massive financial irregularities and corruption.

Kalmadi was questioned by the CBI Jan 5 and his premises in Delhi, Pune and Mumbai were searched by the investigative agency.

Three close aides of Kalmadi - T.S. Darbari, the joint director general (revenue, marketing and chairman secretariat) in the OC, and Sanjay Mahendroo, the deputy director general (marketing) - were arrested Nov 15, 2010, while M. Jayachandran, joint director (finance), was arrested Nov 21.

But even after the stipulated 60 days, the investigative agency failed to file a charge sheet against them. So, Darbari was released Jan 14, Mahendroo Jan 15 and Jayachandran was let off Jan 19.

Kalmadi and OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot were sacked Jan 24 from their posts following the allegations.