India lawmaker arrested over mining scandal

NEW DELHI: India’s top investigating agency says it has arrested a state lawmaker and former minister indicted in a multibillion-dollar scam involving the granting of illegal mining contracts.The Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that G. Janardhan Reddy was arrested early Monday.Last month an anti-corruption panel had recommended that Reddy and several other lawmakers and hundreds of other government officials be prosecuted on charges of bribery for handing out mining contracts in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.Reddy is the director of a mining company in the state’s Bellary district. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the main national opposition party and the ruling party in Karnataka state. – Arabnews