Did a letter written by UT Administrator General S F Rodrigues (retd) in defence of some UT officials scuttle CBI probe into the multi-crore sports equipment scam? The letter was written to former CBI Director Vijay Shankar.

The alleged scam pointed the needle of suspicion towards three UT officials, including an IAS officer. A DIG-level officer of the CBI had recommended registration of a criminal case against the three. The case was never registered, as senior officials of the CBI dismissed it by merely issuing a ‘Self-Contained Note’ to the Administration, leaving it to take appropriate action against the ‘erring’ officials.

The alleged scam pertains to the purchase of fitness equipment by the Administration in 2007. A complaint was made to the CBI by social activist Hemant Goswami and a few others, alleging that the Sports department purchased fitness equipment at exorbitant rates and without following the requisite norms.

Total purchases of over Rs 2 crore were made, which included treadmills (around Rs 10 lakh each) and exercising bikes (around Rs 3.5 lakh each), among others.

In 2008, CBI registered a complaint. Later, the CBI and the UT Vigilance department conducted joint raids in the offices of the Sports department and seized some records.

On June 3, 2008, DIG B L Soni of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch recommended registration of a case against the officials — J P S Sidhu, Joint Director (Sports), I S Sandhu (PCS), the then Director (Sports) and S K Sandhu (IAS), the then Finance-cum-Sports Secretary.

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