Bail to Satyam founder Raju, 5 others cancelled

Bail to Satyam founder Raju, 5 others cancelled

The Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled bail granted to Satyam Computer founder B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and four others by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the Rs. 14,000-crore accounting fraud.

Hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation plea, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma on Tuesday cancelled bail and asked all the six persons to surrender by 8th November.

Observing that the case involved the biggest scam in the history of India, which had affected large number of shareholders, banks and financial institutions, the bench said that the High Court order of grating bail cannot be sustained.

The Supreme Court also directed the special court in Hyderabad, which is conducting the trial in the Satyam case, to conclude its proceedings by July 2011.

Earlier this month, the bench had issued a notice to Mr. Raju, directing him to file his reply on CBI’s plea.

In its petition for cancellation of bail granted to Mr. Raju by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the CBI had said that Satyam’s founder and former chief “misused” the bail by meeting one of the witnesses in the case and tried to “influence” him.

The CBI had filed the charge sheet running into over 10,000 pages, naming more than 250 witnesses.

Such a huge volume was criticised by the court in the last hearing on 19th October.

Besides the two Raju brothers, the High Court had granted bail to four employees of the IT firm- former CFO V. Srinivas, G. Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju and Ch. Srisailam.

The CBI had approached the Supreme Court on 13th September and said that Mr. Raju might influence witnesses, majority of whom were his former employees.

The High Court on 18th August had allowed Mr. Raju’s bail on the ground that all other accused in the case including his brother and former company employees Mr. Srinivas, Mr. Ramakrishna, Mr. Venkatapathi Raju and Mr. Srisailam were granted bail by it.

The Supreme Court observed that the trial was pending in a special court and detailed reasons for granting bail have not been given by the High Court.

“Normally, the Supreme Court does not interfere in such cases where bail has been granted by the High Court, but the facts of the case indicate demand that we should interfere,” the bench said.

Mr. Raju, who was arrested on 9th January last year in connection with the biggest ever corporate fraud in Indian history, and is currently undergoing treatment for liver infection in the state-run Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, was ordered by the court to appear before the trial court after being discharged.

A special court has been created by the Andhra Pradesh government for the trial in November 2009 and a judge has been appointed in 25th February this year.