VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Sept 19: The CBI investigating the 34th National Games scam has summoned over a dozen vendors and suppliers for their questioning out of which some of them are accused. They have been given a list of documents that they have to submit to the agency for investigation.
“Yes, we have summoned some of the persons in this case. But operational details can’t be shared. There are some new leads and facts which are needed to be investigated. Suspects and their role and modus operandi of the scam are being identified. We are investigating beyond the investigation done by the state agency in the past,” a CBI official associated with the probe confirmed.
Sources said that the persons summoned are suppliers and they are accused to have supplied sports paraphernalia often inferior and more than required.
Notably, in April this year, a division bench of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad ordered a CBI probe. The order was passed in the wake of a batch of PIL filed by Sushil Kumar Singh Mantu, Surya Singh Besra of Jharkhand Against Corruption, and Pankaj Yadav.
The court asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jharkhand to hand over all documents of the cases to the CBI. The ACB allegedly made a tardy and slow-mo investigation of this case after it lodged an FIR in October 2010 on the basis of the complaint of the General Secretary of the Jharkhand Wrestlers Association Bholanath Singh.
It submitted the first charge sheet in January 2015 against the then sports director PC Mishra and the general secretary of the National Games Organizing Committee, SM Hashmi. The ACB arrested them in October 2014. It also made Jharkhand Olympics Association treasurer Madhukant Pathak accused. Later on, the ACB booked Bandhu Tirkey (the then sports minister) and RK Anand who is the chairman of the National Olympic Council’s Legal Committee. It further booked another three officer bearers of the games organizing committee namely HL Das, Suvimal Mukherjee, and another person.
The 34th national game was originally scheduled in 2007. But the game was finally organized from 12 February to 26 February in 2011. The ACB charged them for siphoning off the public exchequer to the tune of Rs 28.38 crore in the name of procuring equipment.
But the ACB did not investigate a major gray area of the case which was related to the construction of sports complexes. It was widely alleged that a huge amount was embezzled in the name of construction involving several powerful politicians and bureaucrats.
