[CWG Scam] Corruption a ‘silent killer’ adding to deprivation of poor: Delhi High Court rejects plea by accused VK Verma

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to set aside the order of a special CBI court framing charges of cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy against Commonwealth Games scam accused VK Verma [VK Verma v Central Bureau of Investigation]..Justice Chandra Dhari Singh observed that corruption is a ‘silent killer’ in the society and a serious economic issue which is adversely affecting the country’s economic development.The Court also said that corruption inhibits the achievement of developmental goals by promoting inequality and inefficiency in allocation of resources.“It adds to the deprivation of the poor and weaker sections of the society. Therefore, every effort should be made to eradicate the same. At the end of the day, it is society and the downtrodden who bear the pangs of the corrupt acts of a few. If the court below finds that evidence against an accused is prima facie sufficient for framing of charge, then it has the jurisdiction to proceed with the same concerned accused must face trial,” the order said..Justice Singh was dealing with a revision petition filed by Verma challenging an order dated July 24, 2017 of the Special CBI Judge, Patiala House courts.The Court had framed charges against Verma under Sections 420 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act..It was alleged that Verma, while being the Director General (DG), Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010, along with other officers entered into criminal conspiracy with the Director of a company named Premier Brands Private Limited (PBPL) and Chairman of Compact Disc India Ltd. and others.The Court was told that the office bearers of the Organising Committee scrapped the process of initial Request for Proposal (RFP) on flimsy grounds after receipt of the proposal of PBPL, to extend undue favour to it by appointing the said company as Official Master Licensee for Merchandising and Online and Retail Concessionaire for the games against a minimum royalty amount of ₹7.05 crores.However, the company, after earning a huge amount from the CWG band properties did not pay anything to the committee and the cheque amounting ₹3.525 crores were dishonoured by the bank on instructions from PBPL, which caused pecuniary advantage to Suresh Kumar Seenghal and PBPL and loss to the government exchequer..Verma is the former president of the Badminton Association of India. He occupied the post for nearly a decade and half and finally resigned when he was named in the Commonwealth Games Scam.Verma, Suresh Kalmadi and Lalit Bhanot are considered to be the kingpin of the Commonwealth Games Scam. While Kalmadi was the chairman of the Organising Committee, Bhanot was its secretary-general..Justice Singh held that examination of material on record showed that Verma was interested in bringing his co-accused in the bidding process for the merchandising and license programme and had raised frivolous objections to get the first RFP annulled.“Considering the aforesaid, a prima facie case against the petitioner cannot be ruled out,” the Court said.It further said that the Verma has utterly failed to point out what is causing grave miscarriage of justice in the Special Judge's order.“By the instant petition, rather than pointing out patent irregularities, the petitioner is asking the revisional court to critically examine and analyse the evidence on record which is a matter of trial and cannot be examined at this stage. The petitioner has been unable to satisfy why this court should use its revisionary jurisdiction and quash the charges framed against the petitioner.”The petition was finally dismissed with the court holding that it was devoid of merits..Senior Advocate Ajit Kumar Sinha, along with advocates Srijan Sinha, Parul Dhurvey and Naveen Soni appeared for the petitioner.Special Public Prosecutor Prasanta Varma appeared for the CBI..[Read Order]