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Kanimozhi, the daughter of regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party's head Muthuvel Karunanidhi and herself a lawmaker, was among those charged with receiving bribes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Police had earlier charged three telecoms firms, a former telecoms minister and six corporate executives with a range of crimes in the licensing scandal that a state auditor said may have deprived the government up to $39 billion in potential revenue.
Months of corruption scandals have battered the Congress party-led government, stymied its agenda for economic reforms and fed a sense of regulatory uncertainty in the world's fastest growing mobile phone market.