Raids on Indian lobbyist premises

Niira RadiaTaped conversations between Niira Radia and leading figures were leaked
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India’s top investigation agency has raided the home and offices of a corporate lobbyist in connection with a corruption inquiry.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches on Niira Radia’s house and offices in Delhi.

Ms Radia is said to have had links to ex-telecommunications minister A Raja, who quit last month after mobile phone licenses were allegedly undersold.

Earlier this month the CBI raided Mr Raja’s houses in Delhi and Madras.

The so-called 2G spectrum inquiry has been described as the country’s biggest-ever scandal.

Opposition demands for a cross-party inquiry into the matter paralysed the Indian parliament’s winter session which became the least productive for a quarter of a century when it ended on Monday.

A spokesman for the CBI told the BBC that its detectives had raided 34 homes and offices in Delhi and the southern city of Chennai (Madras) on Wednesday.

They included the home and the offices of Ms Radia – and a leading corporation communications company which she owns – as well as the home of a former telecom official Pradip Baijal, he said.

More than 100 tapes of conversations between Ms Radia and Mr Raja and leading politicians, industrialists and journalists have been recorded and transcribed by the CBI.

In a court affidavit filed last week, the government said it had begun tapping Ms Radia’s phone after an allegation that she was spying for foreign intelligence.

Mr Raja is accused of issuing 2G licences in 2008 on a first-come, first-served basis in 2008 instead of auctioning them, costing the government up to $37bn (£23bn) in lost revenue.

He has denied any wrongdoing and complained he is a victim of trial by media.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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