CWG scam: ‘I am innocent till proven guilty’, says Kalmadi

NEW DELHI - After the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at his premises in New Delhi and in Pune for around eight hours, an embattled Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi on Friday said he is ready to cooperate with the investigating agency, and added that he is innocent till the charges against him are proved correct.

“I am ready to cooperate with the CBI. I have furnished all documents sought by the investigating agency,” said Kalmadi.

Kalmadi further claimed that the money at his disposal was a small fraction of the total expenditure incurred in the Games.

“The raids should not be linked to me being in the Congress. I have not taken any decision alone and all the spendings had been approved by various committees,” said Kalmadi.

Earlier today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday slammed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre for trying to protect the main accused, saying it is ‘too late’, and termed the investigation into the matter an ‘eyewash’.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman said that investigation now holds no importance, as it has been too late and the action is not at all convincing.

“Absolutely not enough, it is rather too late and even if they are doing it now, it just appears like a token gesture. When the whole matter has been waiting for more than now eight months, to go and raid now and to expect to have anything at all as evidence available there, just does not seem to add up,” Sitaraman told reporters in Jammu.

“And it gives the impression that it is all just eyewash. The whole thing has to be taken from (note of) seriously. The nation has lost a lot of money, people’s credibility is on stake, and the intensity of investigation does not seem to be convincing anyone at all,” she added.

The CBI today morning raided the residences Suresh Kalmadi and his personal secretary Manoj Bhure in New Delhi and in Pune in connection with alleged irregularities in the conduct of the 2010 sporting extravaganza.

The raids were conducted in the wake of reports that some crucial documents related to Commonwealth Games deals have gone missing. (ANI)