NEW DELHI: India's former telecom minister A. Raja was expected in court on Thursday after being arrested in one of India's biggest ever corruption probes, police said.
Raja, who maintains his innocence, was formally arrested by officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday as part of a probe into the graft-tainted sale of second-generation (2G) telecom licences in 2008.
Police are expected to ask the court in central New Delhi to grant them the right to keep Raja -- and two other senior officials arrested with him -- in custody to enable further interrogation.
Raja, a low-caste politician from a regional party in south India, was forced out of government in November as public outrage mounted over the 2008 sale of the licences at knock-down prices.
The licences were sold on a first-come, first-served basis instead of via an auction and the ministry is suspected of changing the rules to favour certain companies, many of which were ineligible to bid.
A study by the auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General, found that losses from the cut-price sales could have cost the national treasury up to $40 billion, though this figure is disputed by the government.
It is rare for a senior political figure who left the government just 10 weeks ago to be arrested and the move reflects the pressure on the government to act in a case that has been front-page news for months.
The so-called 2G scandal has engulfed India's Congress Party-led coalition government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, causing some of the strongest political headwinds since they came to power six years ago.
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