CBI plea against Ramalinga Raju’s bail to be heard Monday

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court will Monday hear the CBI’s plea seeking cancellation of the bail granted to disgraced former chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Raju was granted bail by the high court Aug 18 after 17 months of judicial custody in Hyderabad. During the period of incarceration, he spent most of the time in Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences for the treatment of Hepatitis B.

The appeal by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the cancellation of Raju’s bail would be heard by an apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma.

The investigating agency has expressed apprehension that Raju may take advantage of his freedom to derail the trial by influencing the witnesses.

The Satyam scam surfaced following an admission by Raju in a letter to the company’s board of directors in January 2009. He shocked corporate India by admitting to a massive Rs.14,000 crore fraud in the IT major.

The CBI had already moved the apex court for the cancellation of bail to five other co-accused, which include Ramalinga Raju’s brother B. Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, and three other Satyam staffers - G. Ramakrishna, Ch Srisailam and Venkatapathi Raju.

–Indo Asian News Service