CWG scam: Kalmadi gets bail after 9 months in Tihar

Suresh Kalmadi, former chairman of the Commonwealth Games organising committee, will walk out of Delhi's Tihar Jail today after over nine months in custody on corruption charges, as the Delhi High Court granted him bail on a surety of Rs5 lakh.

Former organising committee director general V K Verma was also granted bail by the court along with Kalmadi.

Kalmadi was arrested on 26 April last year for his alleged role in awarding a contract for the Timing-Scoring-Result system to Swiss company Times Omega at an inflated cost of Rs141 crore - causing a loss of over Rs95 crore to the public exchequer, according to inquiry committees instituted to probe the preparations for the scandal-hit Games held in New Delhi in September 2010.

Kalmadi and Verma moved the court for bail on the grounds of an observation of the Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum case that "bail should be the rule and jail an exception".

The Central Bureau of Investigation had opposed the bail of the two accused.

The trial court in June last year rejected Kalmadi's bail plea, after which he approached the high court.