The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday began raids on arms dealers across 35 places in the country in connection with the 2001 exposé by the web portal tehelka.com on bribery in defence deals.

The raids were conducted in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Sangrur and Delhi. CBI sleuths reportedly swooped down on 27 places in the capital.

Amongst those whose premises were raided were Suresh Nanda, Sudhir Chaudhary, M S Sahni and Vipin Khanna, a relative of former external affairs minister Natwar Singh and allegedly linked to the Iraqi oil-for-food scam.

The controversial Tehelka videotapes showed senior politicians and defence officials taking bribes to help Tehelka reporters masquerading as arms dealers bag defence contracts.