Former Test player Maninder Singh was arrested on Tuesday from his residence in a posh locality in East Delhi on the charge of possessing cocaine.

Around 1.5 grams of the contraband, with international market price of about Rs 5,000, was found in his possession at the time of arrest from his Gagan Apartments flat in Defence Enclave in Preet Vihar by the Narcotics Branch of Delhi Police this morning.

A suspected Nigerian drug peddler, identified as Sayyam Siddique, who was with 41-year-old Singh, when the police raided the cricketer's flat, was also arrested, said a senior police official.

Police has been tailing the Nigerian national after they received a tip off that he would deliver cocaine to a user but had no idea that they would end up at Singh's door.

A case was registered against Singh, who played for India in the 1980s before retiring in 1993, for allegedly consuming drugs while Siddique has been booked on the charge of drug peddling under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act.

Siddique, who has a previous history of drug peddling, was residing in a flat in Vivek Vihar also in East Delhi.

Both of them are being interrogated by the Narcotics Branch sleuths at their office in Shakarpur. They are likely to be produced before a court on Wednesday.

Singh is the second public face to be embroiled in a drug abuse case in Delhi in past one year. Late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's son Rahul was arrested in a drug abuse case in June last year.

Singh, a left arm spinner, played in 35 Tests getting 88 wickets and 59 one-day internationals taking 66 scalps in the 1980s. He is also a cricket commentator on television channels.