The Prime Minister appointed high-level panel has seized hard discs from official computers of suspended Prasar Bharti chief BS Lalli and director general of Doordarshan Aruna Sharma.

The panel is probing their role in the Rs 246 crore deal with a British firm for the telecast of the Commonwealth Games held last October.

The two-member panel headed by the former Comptroller and Auditor General VK Shunglu is looking into the alleged financial wrongdoings in organising the CWG held in the capital.

In this particular case, the Doordarshan, under instructions from the Prasar Bharti, entered into a contract with a British firm, SIS Live, for broadcasting rights.

The probe was initiated following deviations from the written contract, which led to corruption allegations in the R246 crore deal.

"The hard discs have been taken into possession to examine the e-mail exchanges between Lalli, Sharma and the company. The contract related documents are also being looked into," said a source in the probe panel.

The panel is learnt to be looking into how the British firm managed to sign a contract with one of its Indian subsidiaries outsourcing some of its work the same day on which it finalised the deal with DD.

The panel is looking at changes in the termination clause, transfer of contract and liquidated damages, all of which were undertaken without any clearance from the information and broadcasting ministry to allegedly help the SIS Live gain an undue advantage.

It was concessions like these which, official sources said, lent credence to the suspicion that Prasar Bharti had gone out of its way to arm the British firm with a disproportionate amount of clout.

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