The co-founder and director of mobile handset maker Micromax has been sent into custody for seven days after he was caught while allegedly paying a 30-lakh bribe to have an illegally-constructed building owned by him be recognized as legitimate.
Here are the latest developments in the story
Rajesh Agarwal of Micromax Technologies was found by the Central Bureau of Investigation at a Municipal Corporation of Delhi official's home on Wednesday night, right after the bribe had allegedly been handed over. Six people have been arrested with him.
"Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder, Micromax Informatics Limited has stepped down from his duties and recused himself from the responsibilities. He will focus on the legal proceedings to clear his name of the alleged charges," a statement from Micromax said.
The CBI has said that Mr Agarwal negotiated the amount of the kickback down to 30 lakhs from 50. The agency said it had received a tip-off, after having kept Mr Agarwal as well as some MCD officials under surveillance for some time.
Mr Aggarwal started Micromax as an IT software company in 2000. Micromax entered the highly competitive mobile handset market in 2008 and currently markets more than 60 handset models. The company also manufactures data cards, tablets and LED televisions.
Despite being a late entrant, Micromax became one of the largest Indian domestic mobile handsets company by 2010. Micromax has a 24% market share in the smartphone segment in India as per the CMR report for April 2013.
Most of the Micromax handsets are manufactured in China, Taiwan and South Korea.
Micromax is the 12th largest handset manufacturer in the World according to Global Handset Vendor Market share report from Strategy Analytics.
Micromax in July 2011 withdrew its Rs 466 crore initial public offering due to volatile market conditions.
The company had planned to use part of the proceeds to set up a handsets factory in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.
Micromax is based out of Gurgaon in Haryana. It has 23 domestic offices across the country and international offices in Hong Kong and Dubai. The company has around 1900 employees currently.
