India’s former telecom minister arrested in phone license scandal

The former telecommunications minister of India, A. Raja, has been placed under arrest as part of a probe into a multi-billion corruption investigation.

Ex-telecommunications secretary Siddharth Behuria and Raja's aide RK Chandolia are also being held.

Raja has resigned from his post in November after it was discovered that 2G spectrum phone licenses were sold at a fraction of their true value. Raja is suspected of having sold the 2G licenses on a first-come, first-served basis instead of auctioning them properly.

Government auditors estimate that the exchequer lost almost $40-billion through the fraudulent sales.
This discovery has led to what is being described as one of the worst political scandals in India’s modern history.

Raja denied any culpability on his part.

India’s parliament has been in limbo as opposition politicians demand a major inquiry into a series of scandals that have scarred the ruling Congress party government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Last December, about 20,000 opposition supporters (led by the Bharatiya Janata Party) staged a huge rally in Delhi protesting what they view as massive corruption in the Congress Party.

Raja is a member of the DMK party, which is allied to Congress.