SC refuses to hear bail plea of ex-Games panel official Bhanot

Bhanot was arrested for awarding TSR contract to a Swiss firm,resulting in loss of Rs 90 cr.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the bail plea of former secretary general of CWG Organising Committee Lalit Bhanot,arrested for his role in awarding a Games-related contract at inflated rates.

A Bench of Justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale,however,allowed Bhanot to approach the appropriate court for relief and clarified the court would not get influenced by observations made by the Delhi High Court which had earlier rejected his bail plea.

The Bench allowed Bhanot to withdraw his petition.

Bhanot was arrested on February 23 this year along with former director general of CWG OC V K Verma for for striking a Rs 107 crore deal with a Swiss firm — Swiss Timing Omega in procuring the Timing,Scoring and Result (TSR) System for the Commonwealth Games held last year. The contract resulted in loss of over Rs 90 crore to the public exchequer.

The Delhi High Court had on July 5 refused bail to Bhanot.

Earlier,Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh had also dismissed Bhanot’s bail plea.

In the first chargesheet filed in the TSR scam on May 20,CBI had named Kalmadi,Bhanot,Verma and eight others.

All the accused have been indicted for various offences,including those of criminal conspiracy under Section 120(B),cheating (Section 420),forgery (Section 468 & 471) of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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