AMN / NEW DELHI
Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI has taken into custody six people including Sports Authority of India (SAI) director and three officials in connection with a case of alleged corruption. The arrests were made during searches at SAI office in New Delhi yesterday. There were complaints against few officers and staff for accepting bribes for work approval.
Reacting to the development, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said, the government is committed to ensure corruption-free India. In a video posted on his Twitter handle, the minister said when the government found corrupt practices by few officers in the SAI, it had given information to relevant agencies, who arrested them. He said the Centre will continue to have zero tolerance approach towards corruption.
The probe agency has arrested Director Sports Authority of India S K Sharma, Junior Accounts Officer Harinder Prasad, Supervisor Lalit Jolly and UDC V K Sharma, besides private contractor Mandeep Ahuja and his employee Yunus, the officials said.
It is alleged that bills of Rs 19 lakh were pending to be cleared by the SAI officials for which a demand of three per cent was being made. “A few months back, we got information that a few officials of sports department have been involved in corruption. We could have transferred them but that wouldn’t have been a solution to the problem but only a cover up,” Rathore said on his official twitter page.
The sports minister said that probe agency was handed over the investigations as people expect the government to take action. “As the public expects from our government, we entrusted the duty of investigation to the agencies. After few months of investigation, on Thursday, they raided SAI and arrested a few officials.