The 12-member jury selection for the criminal trial of Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam began yesterday (8) at a federal court in Manhattan New York.

Rajaratnam, the main accused in one of the largest insider trading cases in the US which also involves several Indian-origin suspects, went on trial on Tuesday and could face more than 20 years in prison if convicted.

A packed courthouse in Manhattan began the trial with the US District Judge, Mr Richard Holwell, disclosing a 15-page questionnaire, prepared to determine whether the juror had any prejudices that would prevent the person from taking an impartial view of the facts to be presented in the case, the Hindu reported.

Following jury selection the prosecutors and defense lawyers are to present their opening statements in the trial expected to take about two months.

Rajaratnam is alleged of generating 45 million dollars in profits from the inside trading. The illegal trading activities go as far back as 2003 involving multiple schemes to trade stocks in companies including Hilton Hotels, Google, AMD, Akamai, IBM, and Sun Microsystems.

The FBI arrested Rajaratnam on October 15 in New York after a two-year sting operation using phone taps.

A federal grand jury in New York indicted Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi of New Castle Funds in December 2009 for seventeen counts involving conspiracy and securities fraud crimes for their alleged involvement in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history.