Kiran Bedi

New Delhi, Oct. 25 (PTI): Team Anna member Kiran Bedi, already under attack for allegedly making her hosts pay inflated airfares, today got into more trouble when a trustee of her NGO quit because he was named in the scandal.

Anil Bal, the proprietor of Flywell Travel and a trustee of Bedi’s NGO India Vision Foundation (IVF), said the former IPS officer’s defence on overcharging her hosts had conveyed the wrong impression among the public that he was responsible for the inflated bills after issuing cheaper tickets.

“In view of what has happened which unnecessarily tarnished my reputation, I have decided to resign as trustee of IVF with immediate effect and have also requested IVF to engage another travel agent for their needs,” Bal said in a statement.

Bedi allegedly charged her hosts for business-class travel when she flew economy class. Asked about the matter, she said she did not personally benefit from it as the money went to her NGO.

While offering to return the excess money, Bedi said Bal was handling the travel account and had been asked to return the money.

This angered Bal. “Some newspapers have even gone ahead to name me the treasurer of IVF handling Bedi’s travel. Certain TV channels have shown pro-forma invoices to say that my company has deliberately inflated the invoices. All this has greatly damaged my reputation,” he said.

“I and my travel agency did not ever issue any inflated demand for payment of any amount in excess of the actual fare payable for tickets,” Bal’s statement said.