Two brothers, who are standing trial for murder, said prison officers provided them with a knife and gun to kill two members of the Games organising committee who are being held over graft charges.

The presiding magistrate has ordered a police report into the claims.

In total, three Delhi 2010 committee members are being held accused of fraudulent allocation of Games-related contracts.

The brothers claimed they were threatened with a transfer to a ward filled with more dangerous criminals unless they agreed to carry out the murder plot against TS Darbari and Sanjay Mahendroo, the director genera and deputy director general respectively of Delhi 2010 who have been arrested in an investigation into corruption claims.

The application to the court claimed: "The jail officials threatened us with dire consequences if we do not comply with their orders.

"We are also receiving threats to our life inside the jail premises.

"The country-made pistol that was given to us was displaced by the jail authorities.

"We seek the court's help to protect us from this ongoing exploitation at Tihar."

Officials at the Tihar jail - the biggest in South Asia - dismissed the claims, telling the court that the two men were running a gang inside prison, and that the only weapon recovered in a search was a sharpened spoon.

The murder claims were made as it was alleged that Commonwealth Games Organising Committee officials had destroyed some "incriminating" documents before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) started its investigation into alleged corruption last month.

"A probe revealed that some files, containing information on budgetary allocation and the names and contact numbers of people who benefited from the deals, were destroyed or smuggled out of the office before the CBI took over the case," a senior CBI officer claimed today.

The officer added that the CBI has the names of some officials who were behind the tampering and destruction of evidence.

"A case of criminal conspiracy has been registered against these officials and they would be arrested soon," he said.

"We have also made a list of documents which were found missing during the agency's raid at the organising committee office last month.

"A large number of people are involved in the scam and we have drawn up a list of such people to be questioned soon."

Along with Darbari and Mohindroo, the former treasuer of the Organising Committee, M. Jeyachandran, is being held in Tihar jail. 

Darbari and Mohindroo, who are both close to Orgainising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, are accused of hiring taxis at unusually high rates for the Queen's Baton Relay in London last year.

The Organising Committee is alleged to have paid the firm AM Films over £450,000 ($693,000) for services during the relay in London in October last year allegedly without following procedures.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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