Raju brothers yet to quit board

By S A Ishaqui

Hyderabad, Jan. 19: Ex-Satyam boss Mr B. Ramalinga Raju and his brother Mr Rama Raju have not resigned from the board of the company.

This was revealed by the advocates of the brothers in the AP High Court on Monday while replying to a query from Justice P. Swaroop Reddy.Mr Prakash Reddy, former additional advocate-general, who appeared for Mr Ramalinga Raju, said the brothers had not resigned from the board.

The court was dealing with the petitions filed by the Raju brothers against a lower court’s orders granting their custody to the police for four days. The petitions were dismissed.

Clarifying the issue of their supposed resignations before the HC, Mr Prakash Reddy said Ramalinga Raju had presented a statement before the board of directors admitting that he inflated the balance sheet of company.

The advocate detailed the figures which Ramalinga Raju presented and added that there was a difference between providing information to the board and submitting resignation.However, right now the brothers were not part of the company as the Centre had suspended the earlier board and had constituted a new one, said Mr Prakash Reddy.

Mr Padmanabha Reddy, senior counsel for Rama Raju, blamed the media for making the investigation into the case clumsy.

Mr Nalini Kumar, counsel for Mr V. Srinivas, the former CFO of the company, said the CID had no role in the case as SEBI, SFIO and ROC had already initiated an investigation in the issue.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday refused to release Mr Raju, his brother and Mr Srinivas from police custody.On January 16, the Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had granted their custody to the CID for four days for further investigation.