New sports minister sacks Kalmadi

Suresh Kalmadi, the under-fire chairman of the Delhi Commonwealth Games organising committee, has been sacked with immediate effect.

New sports minister Ajay Maken also removed Lalit Bhanot as secretary general "in the interest of impartial and unhindered investigations".

Both men have been under investigation over alleged financial malpractice in connection with last October's event. Kalmadi and Bhanot have both denied any wrongdoing.

The move came after India's top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), formally complained that Kalmadi and Bhanot were trying to obstruct its fraud inquiry.

Kalmadi has been asked to hand over to Jarnail Singh, chief executive of the organising committee.

The sports minister, who took the job last week, was quoted by India's CNN-IBN television as saying: "In the light of the concerns expressed by the CBI and in the interest of impartial and unhindered investigations, it has been decided to remove Kalmadi with immediate effect.

"We sought legal advice from the attorney general and we were told that we could do it. So we have done it.”