document: UPDATE 1-India ex-minister , Reliance ADA charged in telecoms graft case * Unitech MD , 3 Reliance ADA officials charged * Charges include conspiracy , forgery , cheating -LRB- Adds details , background -RRB- By C.J. Kuncheria NEW DELHI , April 2 -LRB- Reuters -RRB- - Indian police on Saturday charged a former minister , the Reliance ADA Group and the Indian joint venture partners of Telenor and Etisalat , in a multi-billion dollar telecoms licencing corruption scandal that has rocked the government and business establishments . Andimuthu Raja , the telecoms minister at the time of a flawed 2008 mobile phone licence allocation process , Managing Director of Unitech Sanjay Chandra , and three officials of Reliance ADA Group were also charged in the case , a government lawyer told reporters . '' `` The charges are conspiracy , cheating , forgery of documents , abuse of official position and abetment , '' '' A.K. Singh , special public prosecutor told reporters after the charges were filed in court . The graft scandal , potentially India 's largest ever , has damaged confidence in the Congress-led coalition government , led to calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , and worried investors in Asia 's third-largest economy . -LRB- For a Q+A on the scandal , see -LSB- ID : nL3E7F11Z5 -RSB- -RRB- It is one of the several corruption scandals that have emerged during Singh 's second term , hobbling policymaking and diverting the government 's attention away from pushing forward crucial economic reforms . Some of India 's leading businesses have been questioned and past official decisions scrutinised or reversed . These events have weighed on stocks , with the Mumbai market ending the March quarter as the world 's worst performer . India may have lost as much as $ 39 billion due to violations of rules when lucrative mobile phone licences and radio spectrum were granted in 2008 , the state auditor estimated , a sum equivalent to the country 's defence budget . Raja was forced to resign and later arrested over the auditor 's report . He has been accused in court earlier of taking bribes from two firms which are now part of the India operations of Etisalat and Telenor . Singh said the police would file the bribery charges later . Others arrested include Shahid Balwa , the vice chairman of Etisalat 's Indian venture . Police have also questioned Anil Ambani , the billionaire chairman of Reliance ADA Group and Prashant Ruia , the chief executive of steel-to-telecoms conglomerate Essar group . A parliamentary panel probing the scandal has summoned iconic business tycoon Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani for questioning next week . All of the accused have denied any wrongdoing . The telecoms ministry is considering whether to cancel several licences , after the auditor 's report accused these firms of not being eligible for them , sparking off worries about regulatory stability . The Supreme Court , under its tough new chief justice , has been monitoring the progress of the case after having reprimanded Singh for not moving quick enough to act against his minister . Faced with a resurgent opposition , Singh 's government has not been able to undertake economic reforms such as freeing up diesel prices and allowing foreign investors into the supermarket sector . The corruption scandals , which include charges of graft at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and of officials at state-run banks taking bribes for corporate loans , have tarnished Singh 's image as a clean and effective leader . They could also affect the performance of the ruling Congress party in five state elections that begin in mid-April , in which the Congress must perform well or risk the coalition unravelling . -LRB- Reporting by CJ Kuncheria ; Editing by Jeremy Laurence -RRB-
extractive_keyphrases: scandal sparking perform eligible diverting forced reforms defence attention ratan multibillion court raja telenor position supermarket reversed singh parliamentary corporate managing indian police government tata thirdlargest economy corruption unitech sanjay chandra resignation resurgent opposition lucrative special public prosecutor progress conglomerate foreign quarter business performance allocation now part commonwealth former minister resign include reliance state auditor ministry etisalat congress prime minister risk regulatory undertake economic sum equivalent forgery group
abstractive_keyphrases: singh's auditor's supermarket sector corruption scandal exminister reliance supreme court managing director cheating forgery venture police defence budget