CWG scam: court reserves order on bail plea of Suresh Kalmadi's aide

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court today reserved its order on the bail plea of former CWG Organising Committee official A S V Prasad arrested for his alleged role in awarding a Games-related contract to a Swiss firm at an exorbitant cost.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh reserved the order after the counsel for CWG OC Joint Director-General (Sports) submitted that his bail plea be decided early.

He pleaded that his plea be decided without waiting for the conclusion of arguments on a similar plea of CWG OC's former Deputy Director General Surjeet Lal who is also an accused in this case along with its sacked Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and others.

"It has been prayed on behalf of accused Prasad that his application be decided without waiting for the arguments to be addressed by the counsel for accused Surjit Lal," the court said, fixing June 6 for its order on Prasad's bail plea.

The court had earlier deferred till June 6 the hearing on Lal's bail plea after his counsel said that he would take up the arguments on that day.

The judge had earlier said the order on the bail pleas of Kalmadi, Prasad and Lal would be passed together.

The judicial custody of all the five accused -- Kalmadi, Prasad, Lal, OC's Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and former OC Director General V K Verma would end on June 6.

The five have been arrested for their role in awarding the contract for installing the Time-Scoring-Result (TSR) system to a Swiss firm at an exorbitant cost of Rs 141 crore, causing a loss of over Rs 95 crore to the public exchequer.