Kalmadi suffering from dementia, may affect CWG trial

Suresh Kalmadi, former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, who has been lodged in Tihar jail on charges of corruption, is suffering from dementia, a condition that leads to memory loss, which may have a bearing on his ongoing trial.

Kalmadi was taken to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital where a MRI scan was conducted on him. The result of the test show that he was suffering from dementia, Deputy Inspector General of Tihar RN Sharma said.

A member of Kalmadi’s family mentioned in the medical history submitted to jail authorities that his dementia was at a preliminary stage, which suggests that the MP was ailing much before he was arrested in the ongoing CWG scam probe.

The impact of his mental condition would be determined only after it was analysed properly, legal experts said.

PTI reports noted lawyer KTS Tulsi saying, “it’s a general trend that people take such recourse. What needs to be established is when the disease has affected him. Only after that one can decide whether it will have bearing on the case or not.”

“Now if it(dementia) had settled at the time of offence, it may have a bearing on his culpability. As per the law, a demented person suffers from a global memory loss. If there is a memory loss at the time of the commissioning of the offence, it is not possible to have a fraudulent intention,” PTI quoted Tulsi.

Kalmadi was arrested April 25. The CBI on May 20 filed its first charge sheet in the case against Kalmadi and 10 others, describing the former CWG chief as a prime accused and the mastermind in a corruption case related to financial irregularities in awarding a Rs.141 crore contract for timing, scoring and result system for the October 2010 sporting event.