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7 December 2010
Last updated at 23:58 ET
India's top investigation agency has raided houses owned by a former telecoms minister allegedly involved in a corruption scandal, reports say.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches on A Raja's houses in Delhi and Chennai.
Mr Raja quit last month, denying allegations that he had undersold mobile phone licences.
Parliament has been deadlocked after the government rejected a joint inquiry into the alleged scam.
The allegations against Mr Raja have been described by some analysts as the country's biggest-ever scandal - amounting to about $37bn (£23bn).
CBI officers have begun searching the homes of Mr Raja in Delhi and Chennai in connection with the alleged scam, a spokesman for the agency told Reuters news agency.
The homes of other former telecommunications ministry officials - including Mr Raja's former personal secretary RK Chandolia - have also been searched.
Mr Raja is accused of issuing 2G licences in 2008 on a "first-come, first-served" basis instead of auctioning them, costing the government billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Biggest market Critics said the low return was underscored when India's auction in May of 3G bandwidth for mobile phone services ended up reaping $15bn, twice the sum expected.
Mr Raja presided over the world's fastest growing mobile market; there are about half a billion mobile phone subscribers in India.
His political party, DMK, is one of the largest partners in India's ruling Congress-led coalition.
Parliament has been deadlocked for more than a fortnight after the government rejected an opposition demand for a joint enquiry saying that "impartial" agencies were already investigating.
Separately, the high court in Chennai has suspended a senior lawyer from practicing for an alleged attempt to influence a judge in a different case by using the name of Mr Raja.
RK Chandramohan, who is also the chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu, has also been stripped of his post.
The judge, R Regupathi - who has since retired - wrote to the Chennai court's chief justice alleging Mr Chandramohan had pleaded that a father and son should be granted bail as they were "family friends of a Union minister by name [of] Raja".
Mr Raja has denied that he "authorised any person to speak on my behalf to any judge in any case".
Mr Raja became the second federal government minister to quit this year after Shashi Tharoor, a former senior UN diplomat, resigned as India's junior foreign minister amid a cricket team ownership scandal.
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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches on A Raja's houses in Delhi and Chennai.
Mr Raja quit last month, denying allegations that he had undersold mobile phone licences.
Parliament has been deadlocked after the government rejected a joint inquiry into the alleged scam.
The allegations against Mr Raja have been described by some analysts as the country's biggest-ever scandal - amounting to about $37bn (£23bn).
CBI officers have begun searching the homes of Mr Raja in Delhi and Chennai in connection with the alleged scam, a spokesman for the agency told Reuters news agency.
The homes of other former telecommunications ministry officials - including Mr Raja's former personal secretary RK Chandolia - have also been searched.
Mr Raja is accused of issuing 2G licences in 2008 on a "first-come, first-served" basis instead of auctioning them, costing the government billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Biggest market Critics said the low return was underscored when India's auction in May of 3G bandwidth for mobile phone services ended up reaping $15bn, twice the sum expected.
Mr Raja presided over the world's fastest growing mobile market; there are about half a billion mobile phone subscribers in India.
His political party, DMK, is one of the largest partners in India's ruling Congress-led coalition.
Parliament has been deadlocked for more than a fortnight after the government rejected an opposition demand for a joint enquiry saying that "impartial" agencies were already investigating.
Separately, the high court in Chennai has suspended a senior lawyer from practicing for an alleged attempt to influence a judge in a different case by using the name of Mr Raja.
RK Chandramohan, who is also the chairman of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu, has also been stripped of his post.
The judge, R Regupathi - who has since retired - wrote to the Chennai court's chief justice alleging Mr Chandramohan had pleaded that a father and son should be granted bail as they were "family friends of a Union minister by name [of] Raja".
Mr Raja has denied that he "authorised any person to speak on my behalf to any judge in any case".
Mr Raja became the second federal government minister to quit this year after Shashi Tharoor, a former senior UN diplomat, resigned as India's junior foreign minister amid a cricket team ownership scandal.
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