CBI searches ex-J'khand Sports Minister's house

New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at 16 locations, including the residence of former Jharkhand sports minister Bandhu Tirkey in the then BJP-led Arjun Munda government, over alleged irregularities in multi-crore equipment purchases for the 34th National Games 2011 held in Ranchi, officials said.

Besides Tirkey, who is now the working president of the Congress in the state, the CBI also searched the premises of noted lawyer R K Anand, who was the working chairman of the National Games Organising Committee, in the national capital. he premises of former director of sports of the state P C Mishra, organising secretary of national games Madhukant Pathak and organising secretary H M Hashmi are also being searched, the officials said. As part of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) operation, seven places in Ranchi and five locations in Dhanbad are also being searched, they said.

Tirkey was recently convicted for amassing disproportionate assets by a Jharkhand court and stripped of his assembly membership. He was a close confidante of Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantik) before Marandi decided to merge the outfit with the BJP. Tirkey did not agree with Marandi's decision and joined the Congress after the 2019 assembly elections. The case of alleged corruption in the purchase of games equipment was probed by the state anti-corruption branch and later, handed over to the CBI by the Jharkhand High Court in April this year. The order was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Sushil Kumar Singh in 2018 seeking a speedy inquiry into the alleged National Games scam.

The bench observed that the ACB had not concluded its investigation even after more than a decade of the games being hosted by the Jharkhand government. In his petition, Singh had mentioned that the expenditure incurred in hosting the National Games in the state had been pegged at Rs 28.38 crore. He had claimed that public money was squandered by office bearers of the National Games' organising committee who embezzled money by quoting high prices of sports equipment and accessories.