By IANS,
Hyderabad : A city court Monday reserved its orders on a petition by the income tax (IT) department seeking permission to interrogate disgraced chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju in jail.
Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D. Ramakrishna, who heard the arguments of both the sides, said he would announce his decision Feb 18.
The department wants to quiz Raju in connection with the Rs.78 billion accounting fraud in the company. The officials are likely to grill him in connection with several violations of income tax rules.
If IT gets permission to interrogate Raju in the jail, it would be the third central agency to do so. Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) have already grilled him in jail.
The magistrate also dismissed fresh bail petitions of two suspended auditors of Pricewaterhouse. The court had earlier dismissed bail application moved on behalf of S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri.
The magistrate will also rule on Feb 18 on the fresh bail applications of Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju, who was Satyam’s managing director, and the firm’s former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas. Their earlier petitions were dismissed on Jan 28.
The court will pronounce on Tuesday its orders on the SEBI plea to interrogate former CFO Srinivas and two former auditors of Pricewaterhouse.
All five accused are lodged in Chanchalaguda jail.