NEW DELHI (AP) _ Former Indian Test cricketer Maninder Singh will
face a New Delhi court Wednesday after he was arrested in his home
for allegedly possessing 1.5 grams of cocaine.
Local club cricketer Sayyam Siddique, who was with Singh when
police raided his New Delhi apartment on Tuesday, was arrested for
carrying 100 grams of contraband ``charas'' (hashish), police
spokesman Rajan Bhagat said Wednesday.
Both have been arrested under the 1985 Narcotics Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, Bhagat said.
Police are investigating whether Singh kept the cocaine for his
personal use was involved in the drug trade.
Drug trafficking in India can earn a 10-20 jail sentence, while
drug consumption is punishable by up to two years in prison.
Singh, a left-arm spinner, played 35 Tests for India in the
1980s, along with 59 limited-overs internationals. He is currently a
popular radio and television cricket commentator.
Singh is the second prominent Indian to be arrested for a drug
offence in the Indian capital in the past year. Rahul Mahajan, the
son of former Hindu nationalist leader Pramod Mahajan, was arrested
on similar charges in June 2006.
With India's economic boom, cocaine has become a popular party
drug for some of the nation's wealthy.
