A Delhi court dealing with a CWGrelated corruption case today said two of the accused had paidRs 71.73 lakh for cinestar Shilpa Shetty's performance in theclosing ceremony of 2008 CWG Youth Games at Pune "merely tofulfil the last moment wish" of Suresh Kalmadi.
The court, which put sacked CWG Organising Committee chiefKalmadi and others on trial for the offences under varioussections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act,observed that promoters of Faridabad-based Gem International,P D Arya and A K Madan, paid Rs 71.73 lakh to M/s Whiz CraftInternational Entertainment Pvt Ltd for Shetty's performance.
According to court sources, Arya and Madan, who wererepresenting Swiss Timing, which was "illegally" awarded thecontract to install Timing, Scoring and Results (TSR) systemfor the 2010 CWG at inflated rates, had paid the money whichwas "arranged beyond the scope of work".
Sources said the court, in its order, has noted that boththe accused were associated with the CWG Youth Games 2008 andhad paid Rs 71,73,950 at Kalmadi's instance through cheque onOctober 30, 2008 to Whiz Craft International EntertainmentPvt Ltd for Shetty's performance.
Besides Kalmadi, Special CBI Judge Ravinder Kaur alsoframed charges against OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot,Arya, Madan and others for criminal conspiracy, forgery,cheating and other offences entailing life imprisonment asmaximum punishment.
The accused were chargesheeted by the CBI for "illegally"awarding a contract to install TSR system for the 2010 Gamesto Swiss Timing at inflated rates causing a loss of over Rs 90crore to the exchequer.
The court had on December 21, 2012 passed the order onframing of charges under various provisions of the IPC and thePC Act against Kalmadi and other accused in the case.