Commonwealth Games officials cite CBI delay; seek bail

Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam accused and former Games officials TS Darbari and M Jayachandran sought bail on Tuesday, citing delay by CBI in filing a chargesheet as the reason.

DC Mathur, lawyer for the accused, said his clients were arrested by CBI for no reason and they could easily get bail if the probe agency fails to file the chargesheet within 60 days.

“Today is the 56th day and the CBI has still not filed the chargesheet,” he said.

The court posted the matter for January 14 and has asked CBI to submit their reply.

Darbari, a former aide of Commonwealth Games organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, was arrested on November 15 by CBI for his alleged involvement in the Queen’s Baton Relay scam.

Jayachandran, who was sacked as the committee’s treasurer, was arrested on November 21 for making suspicious payments to London-based private firm AM Car and Van Hire Ltd.

The Delhi high court had recently pulled up the police and investigating agencies for undue delay in filing of chargesheet saying that the system cannot be made “subservient to the wishes of an investigating officer”.

The observation came in a case where the police deliberately delayed filing the chargesheet to ensure that the accused gets bail.