Indian investigative agencies on Friday closed in on two politicians accused of involvement in financial wrongdoings linked to the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the sale of telecommunications spectrum, according to dpa. A Central Investigation Bureau team searched residences and offices of Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the games organizing committee, and his aides in New Delhi and the southern city of Pune, the PTI news agency reported. The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi from October 3-14 were tainted by allegations of fraud, including the granting of inflated contracts without proper tenders. The Indian National Congress party-led coalition government has ordered investigations into financial dealings related to the games. Kalmadi stepped down from a Congress party post in October after the bureau began its investigations. Bureau and Enforcement Directorate officials also questioned former telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja Friday in Delhi in connection with granting 2G telecommunications spectrum licenses in 2008. Raja - a member of the TDP, a regional party from Tamil Nadu state that is part of the governing coalition - has been accused of bending rules while granting spectrum licences, leading to a loss of up to 39 billion dollars to the exchequer, according to a recent government auditor's report. Raja resigned from the post of federal telecommunications minister in November. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been facing a slew of financial scandals in recent months. The winter session of Parliament was able to carry out little business as opposition lawmakers repeatedly disrupted proceedings demanding a cross-party inquiry into the telecommunications scam, billed as India's biggest corruption scandal in recent decades.
