India arrests six over website murder plot

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NEW DELHI, India -- Indian police have arrested six people for allegedly plotting to kill website journalists whose arms dealing probe plunged the government into crisis.

The suspects were allegedly plotting to kill chief executive of the website www.tehelka.com Tarun Tejpa and its editor Aniruddha Behl, said Special Police Commissioner S. Ramakrishna.

AUDIO Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka.com: "The only way to expose these guys was the way we took" 433K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Gautam Adhikari, Natl. Endowment for Democracy: "Indian media has been doing a fairly good job" 707K/66 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO CNN's Kasra Naji reports on the deepening scandal within the ruling party of India's government Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Tim Lister reports on the bribery scandal that has resulted in the resignation of the head of the ruling BJP party Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   ALSO TIME.com:India's Establishment Dot-Compromised

The website, launched in March, secretly shot video footage which showed a string of officials, military officers and politicians apparently taking money from journalists posing as arms dealers.

The March scandal led to the resignation of the defense minister and the chiefs of two parties belonging to the ruling coalition.

Since then opposition groups have said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's 18-month-old coalition has lost the moral authority to rule.

Fully armed

The six men, armed with machine guns, were returning from Nepal late Saturday when officers of an elite intelligence and police unit surrounded their car in Delhi.

Police who raided the car Saturday recovered two AK-47 rifles, two Chinese-made pistols, a bulletproof jacket, counterfeit Indian currency, photographs of the two journalists and the layout of Tejpal's home and office, Ramakrishna said.

Police have accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of hiring the gunmen to kill the journalists in an attempt to further hurt the reputation of India's government.

"In case any harm was caused to Tarun Tejpal, it would have had an effect on the government," said S. Ramakrishna, special police commissioner.

"This would have caused embarrassment, maybe instability for the government," he said.

India and Pakistan routinely accuse each other's intelligence services of planning attacks in its territory. The South Asian rivals have fought three wars since British colonial rulers left the subcontinent in 1947.

Tejpal was provided armed guards by the government after his website broke the scandal, officials said.

Police fired warning shots in the aftermath of the scandal to contain protests

Fever pitch

The arms scandal threw the government into crisis as opposition parties seized their biggest opportunity to trouble Vajpayee since he took office.

It was the first time since Vajpayee came to power in March 1998 that his government had been accused of corruption.

Opposition lawmakers called each other thieves and came close to blows outside the main gate.

They made repeated calls for the government to step down and delayed parliamentary proceedings for days on end.

The prime minister sought to calm the country by announcing the launch of an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Kasra Naji: Arms Scandal in India
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Arms scandal brings down Indian defense minister
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Indian parliament
Tehelka: Indian news

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