By IANS,
Hyderabad : A city court Thursday granted anticipatory bail to B. Suryanarayana Raju, brother of Satyam Computer’s disgraced founder B. Ramalinga Raju, in the Rs.78-billion (Rs.7,800 crore) financial fraud in the IT major.
Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge T. Easwara Rao, who had heard the bail application Wednesday, pronounced his orders Thursday.
Suryanarayana Raju is the chairman of SRSR Advisory Services, floated by Ramalinga Raju to manage the family’s stake in Satyam Computer Services. He was absconding ever since his name cropped up during investigations in the scam that broke out Jan 7.
Defence counsel B. Vijaysen Reddy said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wanted to arrest Suryanarayana Raju merely on a presumption that he was also connected with Satyam and had knowledge of its land transactions.
The prosecution had argued that the bail plea be rejected as his arrest was crucial to dig out several hidden facts. The prosecution contended that Suryanarayana Raju was a director in 50 of the 357 companies floated by Ramalinga Raju.
The prosecution also told the court that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Pradesh police, which probed the scam earlier, had seized a huge quantity of records pertaining to the companies in the possession of Suryanaryana Raju.
D. Gopalakrishnam Raju, general manager of SRSR Advisory Services who was arrested in the fraud case and released on bail later, had confessed before CID that he was shifting the records on instructions from Suryanarayana Raju.
On Feb 13, the court had dismissed an anticipatory bail petition of Suryanarayana Raju.
Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju, who was Satyam’s managing director, and the firm’s former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas are now in Chanchalaguda jail along with two former Price Waterhouse auditors – Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri.
The CBI, which recently took up the investigations, has filed a petition seeking seven-day custody of all the five accused. The investigating agency wants to interrogate them.
Fourteenth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S. Samuel Victor Emmanuel Wednesday posted the CBI petition for hearing Friday.