2010 Delhi chief arrested

Indian police yesterday arrested the chief organiser of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and are set to charge him after a probe into allegations of widespread corruption at the scandal-tainted event.

Suresh Kalmadi will be “produced before a special judge” today and formally charged on several conspiracy counts relating to the awarding of commercial contracts, said Dharini Mishra, spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A member of parliament for India’s ruling Congress party, Kalmadi was sacked as chairman of the Games organising committee as police investigated charges that the organisers had manipulated tenders and knowingly inflated costs.

The Games were meant to showcase India’s status as an emerging global power, but the sporting headlines were stolen by venue delays and budget overruns that saw the cost triple to six billion dollars.

After the Games ended, corruption allegations began to swirl around Kalmadi and his committee.

Mishra cited specific charges that organising officials had conspired to ensure a contract for a Swiss firm to be the event’s official time-keeper by “wrongfully restricting competition from other suppliers in a premeditated manner.”

Other charges related to contracts awarded for a 2009 ceremony in London to mark the start of the baton rally, which saw a Games baton travel across participating nations.