CWG: Court accepts closure report in case against MTNL officers

NEW DELHI: A special court has accepted CBI's closure report in a graft case relating to alleged cost inflation of nearly Rs 400 crore by MTNL and a private firm in setting up broadcast network for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"The investigation conducted by the CBI does not reveal any incriminating evidence against any of the accused persons, therefore, the closure report filed by the CBI is accepted," Special CBI Judge Madhu Jain said.

The case was registered by the CBI in 2011 against former Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) RSP Sinha, its other officials and some officials of HCL Infosystems Ltd.

The CBI, in its closure report, had said it could not be established that MTNL had awarded the project work to M/s HCL in an arbitrary manner and the tender was tailored in a manner that only suited one bidder -- M/s HCL and Cisco consortium was not sustainable.

"No loss to the government exchequer and corresponding wrongful gain to M/s HCL Infosystems Ltd have been found during investigation," the CBI had said in its closure report.

It had also said no mens rea (guilty mind) has been found against any official of MTNL, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and Department of Telecommunications.

CBI said that in a meeting between the officials of 2010 CWG Organising Committee (OC) and MTNL, a brief description of CWG 2006 held at Melbourne was shared and it was discussed that the Melbourne CWG was conducted in very close/nearby locations/stadiums.

It alleged that after the discussion, the OC had made a provision for spending Rs 31.43 crore for the project related to broadcasting network for the CWG 2010 here.