Delhi Commonwealth games controller held

The chief controller of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi has been detained under an investigation into claims of bribery.

Suresh Kalmadi was dismissed from his authority in January. Police say he will be stimulated with conspiracy on account of giving of commercial agreements for the Games - he rejects any misconduct. The build-up to the Games, situated in the capital in October, was flawed by claims of baseness and lack of skill.

Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesman said Mr Kalmadi was detained "for conspiracy to cause favor to a company in Switzerland while obtaining timers and scoring tools for the Games".

Mr. Kalmadi is likely to come out in court on Tuesday. Sources say that if he is found responsible, he could confront years in jail. In February, controlling committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot and another higher ranked officer, VK Verma, were detained and blamed of financial wrongdoing associated to the Games.

The Games expenses huge billion dollars to organize. But sources say that far from showcasing the best of India, they were destroyed by impediments, poor building work and constant charges of prevalent bribery. The budget for the occasion ballooned to an expected $6bn with India's national corruption commission receiving objections alleging that up to $1.8bn of Games money was embezzled.

The series over corruption at the Games is one of chains of corruption humiliations that have shocked India in the latest months.

Some of the fresh corruption scandals to have annoyed Indians include a multi-billion dollar so called telecoms fraud and blames that houses for war widows were diverted to civil servants.

In the beginning of this year, the chief of the country's anti-corruption supervisory body was enforced to quit by the Supreme Court on the basis of that he himself faced corruption allegations. 

The scandals provoked renowned Indian social activist Anna Hazare to go on a four-day-long hunger strike to push for tough new anti-corruption constitutions. There were protests throughout India in favor of his call and the government finally approved to his demands.