Kalmadi to appear in court today; doesn’t lack supporters

Former Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman and suspended Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, currently in Central Bureau of Investigation custody, will be produced in the Patiala House courts in New Delhi today, as his eight-day CBI remand ends.

A report said a large number of supporters from his home base of Pune have landed up in Delhi to offer moral support to Kalmadi, who is accused of inducing and benefiting from corruption in the lead-up to the games.

Kalmadi was arrested by the CBI on 25 April for fraud and conspiring with other officers of the organising committee in awarding contracts for equipment at exorbitant rates. Among other things, he is accused of overpaying a Swiss firm Rs95 crore for timing and scorekeeping equipment used during the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, security is expected to be tight at the Patiala house courts in the capital and the police have also issued an advisory to the media on coverage of the proceedings.

Last Tuesday, a lawyer from Madhya pradesh had tried to attack Kalmadi with a slipper as he was being taken to court.

Meanwhile, according to a senior Congress leader belonging to the Kalmadi faction, a number of Congress activists have gone to New Delhi, says a report in local newspaper Daily Bhaskar.