Was Suresh Kalmadi being blackmailed?

The Central Bureau of Investigation has unearthed a letter from the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi’s residence, which suggests that he was being blackmailed to the tune of Rs4 crore in exchange for a compact disc carrying some ‘damaging information’.

The CBI, however, refused to confirm the development. “We neither confirm nor deny such a letter. We cannot say anything, as the matter is under investigation,” a senior CBI official said.

But sources in the investigating agency said that the authenticity of the letter and its contents are being verified, and it is likely that the letter will be put through forensic tests. Kalmadi could not provide a satisfactory reply on the letter, and the agency is taking it on “face value”, the source added. One theory is that it is a ploy to sidetrack the main CBI investigation.

The CBI had raided Kalmadi’s residences and offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, on Friday, two months after the Commonwealth Games ended amid allegations of financial wrongdoings in awarding of some contracts. During the searches, the agency recovered several documents and questioned the 66-year old leader about them. CBI sources had said that the key files, which contain important information on tendering, budgetary allocation and contract details, are missing from the (OC) office.

However, Kalmadi said the documents could be lying with some other investigating agency and if the CBI lists out the missing documents he and his team would trace them.

The agency has so far filed three FIRs in connection with the CWG and searched the residences of OC director general VK Verma and Bhanot on November 30.