Indian police filed graft charges Monday against five people including the daughter of a key ally in the ruling coalition over an alleged multi-billion-dollar mobile phone licence sale fraud.
The charges name the daughter of the chief minister of southern Tamil Nadu state as a conspirator in the alleged rigging of the sale of second-generation (2G) mobile licences, the Central Bureau of Investigation said. The daughter, Kanimozhi, who goes by one name, sits in parliament’s upper house as a member of the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which is a key partner of the Congress-led federal coalition government.
Kanimozhi, whose father M. Karunanidhi leads the DMK, was one of five people accused as police filed their second set of charges in the probe into the alleged fraud. Police have already arrested 11 people including former telecom minister A. Raja as part of their investigation into allegations that telecom licences were sold at cut-rate prices in 2008 in exchange for kickbacks.
