Agencies/New Delhi


A Delhi court yesterday granted bail to the disgraced head of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, nearly nine months after he was jailed on fraud charges.
The Delhi High Court set bail at Rs500,000 ($10,000) and Kalmadi was set to leave the capital’s Tihar Jail in the next 24 hours, his lawyer Hitesh Jain said.
“We are expecting the documentation to be completed in a day or two. And we shall expect Mr Kalmadi to walk out either by the end of the day or tomorrow,” Jain told reporters
The Congress MP, known for his powerful political and sporting connections, has been in a Tihar cell since April when he was arrested for his role in awarding a contract to a Swiss timing company at an inflated rate.
The $37mn contract with Swiss Timing Ltd to provide timing, scoring and result systems is just one of the alleged financial irregularities being investigated.
In his bail petition, Kalmadi cited the Supreme Court’s recent order in the telecoms scandal which said that “bail is rule and jail is exception.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Kalmadi “for conspiracy to cause favour to a company in Switzerland while procuring timers and scoring equipment for the Games.”
Other charges related to contracts at a 2009 event in London which marked the start of a baton race across Commonwealth countries, say reports.
If found guilty he could face years in prison. Kalmandi denies the charges. The case has yet to come to trial.
Kalmadi’s lawyer said bail had been granted on the grounds that police evidence presented so far “does not really show the involvement of Kalmadi in any manner.”
Kalmadi’s former right-hand man on the Games organising committee, V K Verma, was also granted bail yesterday.
The Games were meant to showcase India’s status as an emerging global power, but the sporting headlines were stolen by venue delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns in which the event’s cost tripled to at least $6bn.
Kalmadi became a target of popular scorn as the face of the Games organisational fiasco, which embarrassed India on the world stage.
He was dismissed in January last year as head of the Games organising committee as police probed charges that organisers had manipulated tenders.
India’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Vigilance Commission, received complaints alleging up to $1.8bn of Games money was misused.
Kalmadi was also removed from his post as president of the Indian Olympic Association.
Others who were arrested in the case included Lalit Bhanot, who served as the secretary general of the organising committee.
His earlier bail plea was rejected by a trial court after which Kalmadi approached the high court.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Congress Party-led alliance government has been mired in a series of financial scandals over the past two years including financial misdealing relating to the Games and another over the sale of telecommunications licences.