Tags:ts darbari|suresh kalmadi|sunil mitra|sports ministry|commonwealth games organising committee|commonwealth games|am films pvt limited.
Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr Mike Whitby (right) with Tribhuvan Shanker Darbari, Deputy Director General of 2010 Commonwealth Games. (Agency Photo)
NEW DELHI: The sports ministry on Sunday rushed a letter to the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), asking its chairman Suresh Kalmadi to relieve OC's deputy director general TS Darbari of his duties immediately, as his name has not been cleared yet in a six-month-old enquiry being conducted by the Kerala customs department.
Official sources told TOI that the ministry has taken this step due to Darbari's name now also figuring in the Queen's Baton Relay controversy involving OC and the London-based company AM Films Pvt Limited.
Darbari is a key face of OC, heading important functional areas like revenue, marketing & merchandising and marketing, and the government feels that his presence "affects the credibility of OC". The feeling in the ministry, sources said, is that Darbari should not be handling revenue matters - which involves tax-payers' money - till the time his name is cleared by government's revenue department.
Darbari came under the scanner of Kerala customs after the arrest of a carrier, KD Mani, at Kochi airport in January this year.
The man was carrying a platinum ring studded with diamonds which he claimed was meant for Darbari. Customs assessed the value of the ring at Rs 28 lakh and even seized an invoice which had Darbari's name on it.
Mani was arrested while Darbari was asked to submit his statement which was recorded in Delhi in April. Darbari denied he had anything to do with the jewellery and was soon reinstated in his post with OC saying there were no charges against him. "Just because he has the invoice does not mean that it was meant for me," Darbari had reportedly said at that time.
The ministry wrote to revenue secretary Sunil Mitra on May 7, 2010 asking about the progress made in the enquiry into the Kochi customs case and were told that the officials are investigating the veracity of Darbari's statement.
Nothing seemed to be moving until the Queen's Baton Relay controversy happened and Darbari's name once again cropped up. That was the trigger, sources say, which has prompted the sports ministry to send the letter to OC.
The ball is now in OC and revenue secretary's courts. They have to now look into whether Darbari should continue in the OC job or sit out till the probe is completed.
Official sources told TOI that the ministry has taken this step due to Darbari's name now also figuring in the Queen's Baton Relay controversy involving OC and the London-based company AM Films Pvt Limited.
Darbari is a key face of OC, heading important functional areas like revenue, marketing & merchandising and marketing, and the government feels that his presence "affects the credibility of OC". The feeling in the ministry, sources said, is that Darbari should not be handling revenue matters - which involves tax-payers' money - till the time his name is cleared by government's revenue department.
Darbari came under the scanner of Kerala customs after the arrest of a carrier, KD Mani, at Kochi airport in January this year.
The man was carrying a platinum ring studded with diamonds which he claimed was meant for Darbari. Customs assessed the value of the ring at Rs 28 lakh and even seized an invoice which had Darbari's name on it.
Mani was arrested while Darbari was asked to submit his statement which was recorded in Delhi in April. Darbari denied he had anything to do with the jewellery and was soon reinstated in his post with OC saying there were no charges against him. "Just because he has the invoice does not mean that it was meant for me," Darbari had reportedly said at that time.
The ministry wrote to revenue secretary Sunil Mitra on May 7, 2010 asking about the progress made in the enquiry into the Kochi customs case and were told that the officials are investigating the veracity of Darbari's statement.
Nothing seemed to be moving until the Queen's Baton Relay controversy happened and Darbari's name once again cropped up. That was the trigger, sources say, which has prompted the sports ministry to send the letter to OC.
The ball is now in OC and revenue secretary's courts. They have to now look into whether Darbari should continue in the OC job or sit out till the probe is completed.
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