Suspended Commonwealth Games organising committee (OC) joint director general TS Darbari claims he is not involved in the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) financial irregularities case and has become a victim of media campaign.
Darbari, a close aide of OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, was suspended after irregularities were revealed in payouts to a UK-based firm which provided services such as car rentals during the QBR's launch in London.
The OC said that Darbari responsible for the delivery and conduct of the QBR's launch and suspended him pending an inquiry by a three-memnber panel headed by OC CEO Jarnail Singh.
In his defence, Darbari had written to Jarnail Singh explaining his role and denying any wrongdoing, according to OC sources.
Darbari, it is learnt, has called himself a victim of a campaign by the media and denied being part of any financial bunglings.
Darbari has claimed that he played no part in the hiring of the London-based Firm -- AM Films -- which is at the centre of the corruption row.
He has also claimed that all the hiring of services during QBR's London launch was handled by a specifically constituted committee comprising three joint director generals -- M Jeychandren for finance and accounts, Sanjay Mohindroo for marketing and Sudhir Verma for communications.
Of these, Mohindroo has quit OC, while Jeychandren was suspended along with Darbari.
Repeated attempts to contact Darbari on phone went unanswered and he did not respond to SMS also.
When contacted CEO Jarnail Singh said "he had no comments to make".
The three-member panel headed by Jarnail also includes Gurjyot Kaur, chief vigilance officer, and GC Chaturvedi, special director general (finance and accounts).
