Politicians held in sex scandal

Women's groups staged protests over the sex scandal

Two senior politicians of Indian-administered Kashmir have been arrested in connection with a sex scandal involving an underage girl.

Former ministers Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Raman Mattoo were arrested by India's top law enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Ten people, including a senior police official, have been arrested so far in connection with the scandal.

The affair has led to widespread protests in Kashmir.

Senior CBI officer Pankaj Kumar Singh told the BBC that Mr Mir and Mr Mattoo were arrested from Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar and the Indian capital, Delhi respectively.

Both were state ministers in the Kashmir coalition government.

Mr Mir belongs to the Congress party, which heads the federal ruling coalition.

Prostitution ring

The CBI has also announced a reward of 200,000 rupees ($4,360) for anyone helping the agency in arresting a former law official of the state in connection with the case.

The accused are alleged to have misused their authority to force under-age girls into prostitution in Kashmir.

The scandal broke after a non-governmental group handed over a pornographic CD to the police. The CD contained images of a local girl thought to be 15 or 16 years old.

The names of 56 men were disclosed after police questioned a woman alleged to at the centre of a prostitution ring, and the underage girl.

The woman and the girl have also named 42 women linked to the scandal.