New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) A trial court Friday dismissed the bail pleas of former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot and former director general V.K. Verma, both key aides of sacked chairman Suresh Kalmadi.
The duo, presently in Tihar jail, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with alleged irregularities in awarding Rs.107 crore contract to Swiss Timing Ltd-Omega for providing logistics support for the 2010 event.
‘Bail applications of both the accused stands dismissed,’ Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh said.
Bhanot and Verma were arrested Feb 23 by the CBI.
The FIR, filed Nov 29 2010, was against Verma, Bhanot and other unknown persons.
On Tuesday, besides Verma and Bhanot, the names of Kalmadi, deputy director General (procurement) Surjit Lal and joint director general (sport) A.S.V. Prasad were included in the FIR for offences punishable under sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) and 467, 468 and 471 relating to forgery, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Kalmadi, Lal and Prasad were arrested on Monday.
Earlier, Bhanot and Verma were booked under sections 120 (b) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act.
With the new sections invoked on them, they are ‘not eligible’ for bail.
As per law, the accused can now seek bail only after competition of 90 days of their arrest.
The CBI had told the court that the two were among key people in the CWG Organising Committee and were instrumental in the allotment of contract for Timing Scoring and Result system to Swiss Timing in a ‘pre-planned and pre-mediated manner’ at an exorbitant rate of Rs.107 crore, thereby causing a huge loss to the government.
In an hour-long argument, the defence lawyers submitted: ‘The CBI had wrongly slapped the recent sections of the IPC on Bhanot and Verma. They should not be charged with it and hence bail may be granted to them.’
