No bail for Satyam Rajus, former CFO

HYDERABAD - Satyam Computer’s disgraced founder B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas will remain in jail as a court here Wednesday dismissed their bail plea in the Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore) accounting fraud case.

S. Bharat Kumar, lawyer for the Rajus, said his clients would challenge the court order.

‘There are options for us to renew the bail application before the same court or the next higher court. We will take a decision on this in the next two days,’ Bharat Kumar said after the sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate D. Ramakrishna rejected the bail plea.

The three have been in judicial custody which expires Jan 31.

‘The court order is on merits, on whatever arguments made by the defence counsel and the prosecution,’ public prosecutor Ajay Kumar told reporters outside the court complex.

The magistrate reserved for Thursday orders on the police appeal for custody of Gopalakrishna Raju, former general manager of SRSR Advisory Services floated by the Raju family to manage their stake in Satyam.

He will also rule Thursday on Gopalakrishna Raju’s bail plea. During the arguments, the prosecution opposed the plea on the ground that all sections applicable to Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju and Vadlamani Srinivas also applied to him.

The prosecution also argued that Gopalakrishna Raju was acting as custodian of the property of Ramalinga Raju, and tried to conceal land documents after the arrest of the former Satyam chairman.

Seeking police custody of the accused for seven days, the prosecution told the court that his custodial interrogation would throw more light on the documents recovered so far. After hearing the arguments, the magistrate posted both the petitions for orders Thursday.

The court will also hear Thursday the arguments on the bail pleas of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) partners S. Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Taluri. They were arrested last week for alleged complicity with the accused.

The court Tuesday heard the arguments on the bail pleas of Ramalinga Raju and Vadlamani Srinivas. The prosecution had opposed them on the ground that the accused could tamper with evidence and their release on bail could hamper investigations.

Ramalinga Raju was arrested Jan 9, two days after he confessed to the country’s biggest corporate scam of Rs.70 billion. His brother Rama Raju was also arrested the same day.

Vadlamani Srinivas was picked up a day later.