Police action against Ramalinga Raju unlikely without complaint
By IANSTuesday, January 6, 2009
HYDERABAD - The Hyderabad police are not likely to take any action on their own against B. Ramalinga Raju, who Wednesday admitted to a Rs.40 billion fraud while resigning as chairman of IT major Satyam Computer Service Limited.
Though rumours of Ramalinga Raju’s imminent arrest were doing rounds in the corporate circles here throughout the day, the police did not take any action till late evening. Hyderabad Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao said the police would take no action in the absence of any complaint.
‘Unless we receive a complaint, we can’t take any action,’ the police commissioner said when asked whether arrest of Raju was contemplated based on his statement to the company.
The police might take action if any investor, shareholder or any regulatory body lodges a complaint. ‘So far the police have not received any complaint,’ the police officer said.
Raju in his letter to the Satyam board admitted the fraud that has been going on for some years.
In his letter, he admitted that the company had cooked its books resulting in an ‘inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs.5,040 crore (Rs.50.40 billion)’ over several years.
He also said he was ready to face the law of the land and the consequences.
‘I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face the consequences thereof.’
Some analysts feel that the statement was sufficient ground for the police to act on their own.
‘The police can arrest him and all others responsible for this scam without waiting for a complaint,’ said a market analyst.
Ramalinga Raju and his brother B. Rama Raju, who resigned as managing director, are in Hyderabad and sources close to the family said they might seek anticipatory bail.
The efforts to contact Ramalinga Raju yielded no results. A large number of reporters, who reached their house in the upscale Jubliee Hills, were told that he was not available. The company officials said he was busy attending a meeting at the company headquarters here.
