New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi may intimidate prosecution witnesses if granted bail in a corruption case linked to the 2010 sporting event, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Delhi High Court Monday.

The probe agency also opposed the bail plea of V.K. Verma, an aide of jailed MP Kalmadi, before Justice Mukta Gupta, who fixed Jan 10 for the next hearing.

Kalmadi was arrested April 26 for his alleged role in awarding a contract for installing the timing-scoring-result (TSR) system to Swiss Times Omega at an exorbitant cost of Rs.141 crore, allegedly causing a loss of over Rs.95 crore to the public exchequer.

The probe agency said that the CBI had tangible evidence to show “these persons (accused) have in the past intimidated persons who are today witness of the prosecution”.

“After the scrutiny of documents is over, the CBI is ready for day-to-day trial,” CBI counsel said.

Kalmadi and Verma moved the court for bail on the observation of the Supreme Court in the 2G case that “bail should be the rule and jail an exception”.

The trial court in June 2011 rejected Kalmadi’s bail plea, after which he approached the high court.

The accused individuals and two companies were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.