New Delhi - Politically mauled by an arms bribery scandal, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr A. B. Vajpayee, yesterday instituted an inquiry into it headed by a "retired or sitting" Supreme Court judge to be completed within four months, temporarily allaying the crisis gripping his Hindu nationalist-led government, Rahul Bedi reports
"The ease with which persons posing as arms merchants gained access to our defence personnel and politicians shows how far the cancer [of corruption] has spread," Mr Vajpayee said in an unprecedented address on state-run television. These revelations are a "wake-up call" to all of us, he added.
He was referring to a sting operation run by journalists from a news website. They posed as arms dealers attempting to sell a non-existent product to the army and filmed senior politicians, army officers and civil servants accepting bribes.