Acting on the persistent plea of the Sports Ministry, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on Monday terminated the services of its tainted Joint Director General T S Darbari in the wake of the corruption scandal that has rocked the event.

Darbari, who had been suspended pending an inquiry after his name cropped up in alleged corruption during the Queen’s Baton Relay’s launch in London, has been told to hand over charge to Additional Director General V K Saxena.

The OC has finally acted on the instructions and given the marching orders to Darbari, who appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday in a probe over his alleged customs violations.

According to OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi, Darbari oversaw the QBR preparations in London, which became the focal point of a corruption storm following revelations that a little-known UK-based firm A M Films was paid lakhs of pounds for its “services” during the event.

Later, an e-mail from the Indian High Commission which Kalmadi made public to justify payments to AM Films also turned out to be doctored, forcing OC to launch a probe into the entire episode.

Although the OC probe report is yet to come out, the Sports Ministry had been demanding Darbari’s removal ever since his name figured in a customs violation case.