Indian police question Dhoot brothers in 2G scam probe

Indian police on Monday questioned Videocon Group boss Venugopal Dhoot and his brother Rajkumar Dhoot, an MP from Maharashtra state, as part of their probe into a suspected massive telecom scam widened.

Reuters/Krishnendu Halder

The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) interrogated the pair as part of their inquiry into the so-called “2G scam” - the government's allegedly fraudulent sale of

second-generation mobile licenses at cut-price rates to favoured companies
in 2008.

The national auditor last year said that irregularities cost the state up to 30 billion euros in lost revenues.

Venugopal Dhoot, who runs Videocon, a conglomerate that includes Videocon Mobiles, is one of several high-profile tycoons with interests in the telecom business to be questioned by the CBI recently.

Last week, the CBI questioned the chief executive of the Essar conglomerate, Prashant Ruia, and the Indian billionaire, Anil Ambani.

Telecom minister A Raja was arrested along with two former aides earlier this month, as was Shahid Usman Balwa, a chief executive of real estate firm DB Realty, which has a joint telecom venture with Abu Dhabi's Etisalat.

All the individuals and companies under investigation have denied any wrongdoing.