Delhi Court rejects bail plea of Lalit Bhanot, Verma

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail plea of former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot and former director general V K Verma, both considered to be loyalists of the sacked chairman Suresh Kalmadi.

The duo, presently in Tihar jail, was arrested by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in awarding Rs 107-crore contract to Swiss Timing Ltd-Omega for providing logistic support for the 2010 event. “Bail applications of both the accused are dismissed,” Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh said. He also extended their judicial custody till April 21. Bhanot and Verma were arrested on February 23 by CBI for striking a Rs 107-crore deal with the Swiss firm in procuring the Timing, Scoring and Result (TSR) System for the Commonwealth Games.

The CBI had told the court that they were among key personnel in CWG Organising Committee and were instrumental in the allotment of contract for TSR 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. CBI has registered a case against the two former OC officials under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating ) of IPC and various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, along with Swiss Timing Ltd and other unnamed persons.

The investigating agency had earlier slapped three more charges of fraud, forgery and cheating on the duo. The rejection of the bail petitions of the Organising Committee duo is considered to be a significant achievement by the CBI, which told the court that it had gathered enough evidence against them to buttress their charges.