T.S Darbari, the joint director general of the Organising Committee of Delhi 2010, and  M Jayachandran, the joint director general of finance and accounts, were suspended following a series of media reports alleging corruption in the organisation of the Games.

Earlier, as reported on insidethegames, Anil Khanna, quit his post as treasurer after media reports which alleged that a contract for laying the synthetic surfaces at the R K Khanna Tennis Stadium, one of the Games venues, was awarded to a company whose Indian branch is headed by his son.

Ashok Matoo, who had resigned as treasurer of the Organising Committee earlier this year, was appointed to the post again, with less than two months to go before the opening of the Games on October 3.

Darbari and Jayachandran, along with that of Sanjay Mohindroo, the Organising Committee's former deputy director general, are now to be investigated by the Enforcement Directorate over allegations that £250,000 ($388,300) were paid to British-based company AM Films, providing logistical services during the Queen's Baton Relay in London last October, without a formal contract being signed.

Bhanot told a press conference in the Indian capital that the decision to remove the officials was taken at a meeting of its Executive Board here earlier in the day.

The suspensions are due to remain in force until the inquiries against them are completed.

"We have suspended these officials as they were responsible for the delivery and conduct of the Queen Baton's Relay in London," said Bhanot.

"We are handing over the case to the Enforcement Directorate for further investigation."

Today's meeting had been called by Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Organising Committee and President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), following the allegations that had emerged last weekend.



AM Films is being probed by the British tax authorities for inadequate paperwork related to the payment, for which it had claimed a VAT refund for their role in the Baton Relay, which was launched by the Queen outside Buckingham Palace.

Kalmadi had claimed the firm had been recommended to it by the Indian High Commission in London, even producing e-mails from the High Commission to back-up his case.

But, two days, ago, India's External Affairs Minister S.M Krishna told Kalmadi that the e-mail produced by him was not genuine and was probably doctored.

The deal, meanwhile, with the Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) of Melbourne, to find sponsors for the Games was terminated on the ground that it had failed to fulfil its commitments.

It followed reports that they stood to benefit by up to 23 per cent of all contributions made towards sponsorship for the Games, whether they had negotiated the deal or not.

Bhanot claimed that Delhi 2010 had been reviewing the contract with SMAM for some weeks and had decided to terminate it today, after giving them due notice, following legal advice.

SMAM, who had worked on the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the previous two Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006, had claimed to have helped the Organising generate sponsorship worth $85 million (£54.6 million), the highest in the history of the event.

Earlier SMAM had offered to forgo its right to the contracted remuneration amount on such sponsorship revenues and instead only charge a management service fee to cover the costs related to delivery and servicing of the sponsorship benefits, which was rejected by the Organising Committee.

Bhanot also made it claimed that no money had been paid to SMAM, which the firm confirmed when contacted by insidethegames.

"SMAM strongly rebuts all unfounded, baseless and false allegations and innuendos about SMAM and its scope of services towards the Organising Committee for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games," they said in a statement issued insidethegames.

The company, who have been the marketing agents of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) for 25 years, claimed that they were the victims of a dirty tricks campaign.

"The reports in a section of the media are grossly misinterpreted and are based on the false information gathered from unidentified sources," the statement said.

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