Following criticism, Bedi returns excess fare

Indore: Team Anna member Kiran Bedi was forced to return Rs 16,000 in excess air-fare she had charged from an Indore organisation in 2009. Bedi was under attack for overcharging organisations by inflating her travel bills and the organisation in question sought a refund on “ethical grounds”. Abhyas Mandal president Shivaji Mohite said, “We have received a cheque for Rs 16,346 from Bedi’s NGO, India Vision Foundation, as she had assured us day before yesterday.”[caption id=“attachment_121944” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Team Anna member Kiran Bedi (L) with Anna Hazare. AFP”]  [/caption] Bedi had been invited to give a lecture by the organisation in May 2009. She was paid Rs 38,871 on account of two-way business class fare for Delhi-Indore air journey. Following recent media reports which claimed that she used to travel economy class on her lecture tours but charged the organisers for business class ticket, Mandal had sent her an email seeking refund of excess amount on “ethical grounds”. Bedi had defended her actions by saying that the excess money went to her NGO. However, she later said that the over-charged money would be returned. PTI