The first arrests in the probe related to the 2011 Ranchi National Games were made on Tuesday. Investigators have found that non-refundable advance payments were made a month before the scheduled opening ceremony. They also found that 700 dozen table tennis balls were bought when only 50 dozen were used and that a tender worth Rs. 211.27 lakh was preferred over one valued at Rs. 11.08 lakh. The probe into the scam has also reached the doorstep of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), with Vigilance Department officers finding that most contractors were involved in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Officers say Suresh Kalmadi, the former IOA chief, will be approached for an explanation. The two persons arrested Tuesday are former Sports Department director P C Mishra and National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) secretary S M Hashmi. They told interrogators that they were following recommendations of the IOA when choosing to award contracts at inflated rates. “When we wanted to question some contractors, we found that they were already in jail in connection with the CWG scam,” said a police officer. The Vigilance Department has calculated that the scam resulted in a Rs 28.38 crore loss to the exchequer. This is because expensive tenders were favoured when cheaper options were available and inflated number of items were bought. One of the most glaring irregularities found was the practice of mobilisation advances. In December 2008, when the construction of the sports complex had barely begun, the NGOC advanced Rs 2.6 crore to Wizcraft to organise the opening and closing ceremonies. “The NGOC told Wizcraft that it could keep the money if the games did not take place by January 2009,” the police said. When the NGOC finally floated a tender for the event’s opening and closing ceremonies, it awarded the contract to a bid that was Rs 1.83 crore higher than the lowest one. The housekeeping contract too was awarded to a bid Rs 47.21 lakh higher than the lowest. NGOC chairman R K Anand and treasurer Madhukant Pathak are the other accused in the case.
