Diamond traders strike over arrest

Trade on India's main diamond market in Bombay has been shut down by a strike.

Traders called it to protest at the arrest earlier this week of a leading merchant and film financier, Bharat Shah.

Police detained Mr Shah -- a major backer of Bombay films and one of the leading exporters of processed diamonds -- for his alleged links with the Bombay underworld.

State officials say the police acted after investigating the financing of his latest Hindi-language hit film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke.

A spokesman for the Diamond Export Promotion Council said the traders expressed solidarity with Mr Shah for his contributions to the industry. Correspondents say his exports of diamonds in the last ten years may have been worth one billion dollars.

India accounts for three-quarters of the global trade in processed diamonds.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service