Former Union minister Suresh Kalmadi passes away at 81; funeral today in Pune

PUNE: Former Union curate and elder Congress person Suresh Kalmadi passed distant astatine the property of 81 aft a prolonged illness. He was undergoing attraction astatine Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital successful Pune.

According to his office, Kalmadi’s mortal remains volition beryllium kept astatine Kalmadi House successful Erandwane till 2 p.m. to let radical to wage their past respects. The cremation volition beryllium held astatine Vaikunth smashanbhumi successful Navi Peth, Pune, astatine 3.30 pm. Kalmadi was a seasoned person and sports head who served arsenic the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and played a cardinal relation successful India’s sports medication for respective years. He came nether nationalist scrutiny successful transportation with the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption lawsuit and was booked nether the Prevention of Corruption Act for alleged misappropriation of Games funds. He was arrested successful April 2011, pursuing which the Congress suspended him from the party. Despite the controversy, Kalmadi continued to wield power successful sports bodies. In 2016, helium and Abhay Singh Chautala were appointed beingness presidents of the IOA by a sheet of implicit 150 members.

However, aft the Union sports curate sought a probe into the decision, Kalmadi declined the honour, stating successful a missive to past IOA president N Ramachandran that the timing was not due for him to judge the post. Before entering politics, Kalmadi served successful the Indian Air Force arsenic a aviator from 1964 to 1972, and retired from work successful 1974. He aboriginal entered nationalist beingness and went connected to service arsenic Minister of State for Railways betwixt 1995 and 1996 during a Congress-led government.