Indian police last night arrested the former -chairman and the chief executive of Satyam Computer Services, the outsourcing company at the centre of a $1bn fraud, as the affair triggered wider falls in share prices.

B. Ramalinga Raju, Satyam's former chairman and its founder, was detained on charges of -cheating and forgery. B. Rama Raju, his brother and co-founder, was arrested on charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating, falsification of records and forgery, police said.