Suresh Kalmadi's arrest belated, says CPI(M)

New Delhi, Apr 25: Terming the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi in the Commonwealth Games scam as "belated", the CPI(M) today (April 25) demanded that the CBI take steps to lodge cases and prosecute others responsible for the irregularities.

Maintaining that the arrest of the sacked CWG Chairman "for corruption" associated with the games was welcome though it was "much delayed", the party said the CBI should forthwith register cases and prosecute "those who were responsible for the expropriation of public funds".

"Apart from the instances of corruption indulged in by the organising committee of the CWG, there is large scale misuse of funds for the games by other agencies and authorities in the Delhi Government and the Central Government. Some of these have been enquired into by the Shunglu Committee," the CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement.

Senior party leader Brinda Karat said the "belated action" of Kalmadi's arrest was "only the tip of an iceberg".

Karat, who is in Kolkata, said the Shunglu Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had in their reports "implicated the Delhi governments and some departments under central ministers".

"Therefore, the huge CWG scam is yet another piece of evidence about the corruption which has proliferated under the Manmohan Singh government. The fact that the action is so belated hardly brings any confidence," she said.

The action required now should really be in the aspects which have been pointed out by the Shunglu panel and the CAG, Karat said, adding that investigations should not be limited to "just in one case, when thousands of crore of rupees is involved. Action should be taken against all those named in the Shunglu report and questions raised by the CAG".

PTI