Court rejects SEBI plea to question Satyam’s Rajus

HYDERABAD - Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) plea to record statements of disgraced Satyam Computer Services founder B. Ramalinga Raju and his brother B. Rama Raju was rejected by a court here Friday.

Sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate D. Ramakrishna pronounced his orders, rejecting the SEBI petition.

The grounds on which the plea was rejected were not known as the copy of the order was not yet available. Rajus’ lawyer S. Bharat Kumar, however, told reporters that the court upheld their arguments.

‘The court upheld our contention that the petition itself is not maintainable and that the court has no jurisdiction to pass or entertain such petition and pass orders as prayed by the SEBI,’ he said.

The magistrate Jan 16 heard the arguments of both sides and reserved the orders.

During the arguments, Ramalinga Raju’s counsel stated that no purpose would be served by his appearing before the SEBI as all the documents were already seized from Satyam’s offices and that his client had no access to the records to answer the SEBI’s questions.

The SEBI served summons on Ramalinga Raju Jan 9 and his lawyer announced that he would appear the next day. However, a few hours later, Ramalinga Raju surrendered before the Crime Investigation Department (CID), denying the SEBI an opportunity to question him.