CWG scam: Bhanot, Verma sent to Tihar jail

A Delhi court on Tuesaday remanded former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and its ex director-general V.K. Verma to 14-day judicial custody over financial irregularities during the mega event held here last year.

They will be lodged at Tihar Jail till the next hearing on March 15.

On Feb 24, Bhanot and Verma were sent to five-day CBI custody.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Feb 23 arrested Bhanot and Verma after grilling them for hours.

According to CBI sources, Bhanot was arrested under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code and other sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Earlier this month, Sekhar Deorukhkar, another close aide of Suresh Kalmadi, was arrested from Pune in connection with the overlays scam.

In January, a businessman, Binu Nanu, was arrested by the CBI also for his involvement in the CWG overlay scam.

The CBI earlier raided the homes and offices of the OC officials while Kalmadi himself faces a probe by the federal investigating agency.

Suresh Kalmadi, a Congress MP from Pune, is accused of indulging in various financial scams involving the organization of the Games in Oct 2010.

India faced humiliation before the entire world in the run up to the Games owing to shabby preparations. The Games which, however, concluded without any major hitch and Indian athletes brought several accolades to the nation.

The Union sports ministry on Jan 24 removed Suresh Kalmadi and Lalit Bhanot as the chairman and secretary general of the organizing committee of the Commonwealth Games.