The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on an application by Suresh Kalmadi, MP, seeking bail in the Commonwealth Games scam case.
Counsel urged the court to take up the petition for hearing in December as the investigation was over and the charge sheet filed, but Justice Mukta Gupta asked the CBI to file the reply by January 6, 2012, next date of hearing.
Mr. Kalmadi, who was the Games Organising Committee chairman, cited a recent Supreme Court observation, while granting bail to five corporate honchos in the 2G spectrum case, that “bail is rule and jail is exception.”
Mr. Kalmadi submitted that the investigating agency had on November 3 informed the trial court that the probe was over. The trial would take a long time to conclude as representatives of the foreign company, which has been charged with entering into a criminal conspiracy with him to embezzle public money, had not as yet appeared before the court.
The Pune MP is the prime accused. Along with the other accused, he is facing prosecution for awarding a contract to Swiss Timing Omega of Switzerland for installing the time-scoring-result system at an exorbitant cost of Rs.157 crore, which allegedly caused the exchequer a loss of Rs. 95 crore. He has been lodged in the Tihar Central Jail here after his bail applications were rejected first by a CBI special court and later by the High Court. The investigating agency had arrested him on April 25.
