By day’s end, more than one hundred licences had been handed to eight companies in a deal that would besmirch India’s reputation for years to come. Details began to dribble out bit by bit, revealing a story that seemed to have everything, from shell companies fronting for major industrial houses to leaked salacious calls between lobbyists and tycoons. Behind it all stood telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, a colourful politician from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
