Indian police have investigated more than 60 people, including top executives at 10 telecom companies, in a probe into a massive corruption scandal, a court heard on Tuesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating what has been described as one of the biggest corruption cases in India's history, with up to ê40 billion of public revenue lost, according to the government auditor.
Nobody has yet been charged in the case but the scandal over the sale of telecom licences has already brought down former telecoms minister A. Raja, who is under arrest in a New Delhi jail.
"Sixty-three persons including promoters and CEOs (chief executive officers) of 10 (telecom) companies have come under the scanner of the CBI," CBI lawyer K.K. Venugopal told the Supreme Court, according to the Press Trust of India.
The court was hearing a status report from the CBI on the progress of the investigation after it told police last month to move with "greater expedition" to catch the beneficiaries of the alleged scam.
The CBI has also arrested two former aides of Raja as well as Shahid Balwa, vice chairman of Etisalat DB Telecom.
The CBI did not identify the people who were under investigation in its probe into the awarding of second generation (2G) licences in 2008 at what India's auditor general said were "unbelievably low" rates.
But last month, the CBI questioned Anil Ambani, the billionaire chairman of Reliance Communications.
He is among a host of people to be questioned including top executives of Spice Mobility, Loop Telecom and real estate giant Unitech Ltd, which has a mobile joint venture in India with Norway's Telenor.
Raja, a politician from a key regional party in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's national Congress-led coalition, is suspected of rigging the rules for the sale of mobile licences and airwaves to favour some firms.
All those investigated by the CBI have denied any wrongdoing in the scandal, the latest in a string to have shaken India's Congress government during its second term.
Singh has been battling to salvage his upright reputation in the face of opposition charges that he turned a blind eye to corruption in the interests of preserving his coalition.