Ramalinga Raju goes missing

HYDERABAD - Where is B. Ramalinga Raju? Everyone is trying to find an answer to the question after the chairman of Satyam Computers resigned Wednesday confessing to a Rs.70 billion (Rs.700 crore) fraud.

A team of officials from market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) arrives here Thursday to begin a probe amid speculation that police might arrest Raju, but nobody knows his whereabouts.

Raju became incommunicado after sending a letter to Satyam board Wednesday morning. There was utter confusion after a TV channel reported that he had left either for the US or Dubai.

Raju is believed to have met nobody in the last two days. It is also possible that he might have handed over his letter to company officials before becoming incommunicado.

Sources in Satyam, however, said he was in Hyderabad and might address a press conference later in the day. The reporters who rushed to his house in upmarket Jubliee Hills were told by the security guards that he was attending a meeting in Satyam Infocity at Madhapur.

However, no senior official from Satyam could be reached to confirm this. A large group of reporters waited outside Satyam Infocity till late Wednesday but in vain.

The Hyderabad police were also reportedly trying to find the whereabouts of Raju. The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered a probe by crime branch. Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao Wednesday said they would act only if a shareholder or regulator lodges a complaint against Raju.

Some police teams were also sent to Satyam offices in the city to find Raju’s whereabouts but they were unsuccessful in tracing him as well.