Filmmaker says Kalmadi demanded bribe for fest

Kolkata based filmmaker Shyamali Banerjee, who levelled bribery charges against Commonwealth Games ( CWG) Organising Committee chairperson Suresh Kalmadi, wants a proper government probe into her allegations.

“I am willing to be a part of any investigation by the CBI or an equivalent vigilance body over the lack of transparency in allocation of activities related to the Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, I am aware of the fact that nothing comes out of such probes against big politicians,” said Banerjee, speaking to us from Kolkata.

Banerjee had earlier accused Kalmadi of demanding a bribe from her when she approached him with a proposal of holding a short film festival with the Games as its theme. She also alleged that Kalmadi had hijacked her proposal and passed it on to “ his own people”. “ I came up with the idea of a film festival related to the Games and approached Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was then the sports minister. Aiyar was impressed with my idea, and later when I met Shovana Narayan, ADG, CWG, with the proposal, she also seemed excited. I was then asked to meet Suresh Kalmadi since the final decision would be his,” she recalls.

Banerjee says she approached Kalmadi’s office in September 2009. “ Kalmadi has four secretaries. Two of them approached me and openly told me, ‘ You have been trying to get your proposal passed for quite some time now. The CWG chairperson wants to know how much you are ready to spend to get your proposal approved’,” she says.

Expanding on the allegation that Kalmadi is doling out assignment largesse related to the Games to friends, Banerjee says: “ Kalmadi has a coterie of people who are in his good books. He is distributing all activities related to Commonwealth Games only to his people.”