Tainted Ramalinga Raju mastermind behind Satyam scam gets bail

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, Aug. 18: After seven botched attempts, B. Ramalinga Raju, the prime accused in the Rs 8,000 crore Satyam scam, got conditional bail from the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday in the teeth of opposition from the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd was arrested on January 9, 2009, two days after he confessed to authoring the biggest corporate fraud in India by fudging accounts of the company to inflate profits.
Though Raju has been in judicial custody for 19 months and 15 days, he spent a major chunk of this lolling in hospitals getting treatment for various “ailments”, much to the frustration of the CBI which felt it was merely a ruse to delay the trial.
At present, he is in undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C infection in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) and the CBI had cast doubts on whether this too was another trick not to appear before court.
The CBI has decided to challenge the bail in the Supreme Court, pointing out that Raju, who was influential and powerful, could tamper with evidence. “He could also influence the witnesses in the case,” said the CBI DIG, Mr. V.V. Lakshminarayana.

Raju had filed bail petitions seven times so far before the trial court, the High Court and the Supreme Court but had drawn a blank.

This time, Justice Raja Elango, made it clear that he was not going into the merits of the case and was granting bail based on the ground of custodial detention.

The judge reminded that pre trial detention was not recognised by Indian system and the provision for bail has been made available in the law.

Despite strong opposition from the CBI, the judge granted bail to Raju observing that the Cr PC provided the right to accused to avail bail beyond a stipulated period of detention. The judge was not convinced with the contention of the CBI that the trail would be completed in six months.
The judge said that neither the prosecution nor the accused can be held responsible for the delay in the trial and other legal processes which are unavoidable.

The judge pointed out that”since it is a fact that Raju is undergoing treatment for a long period for his ailments, he will fight out the case at the risk of his life once freed from the hands of justice. The question of Raju fleecing the process of justice does not arise because his passport is with the authorities and his permanent residence is in Hyderabad.”

The judge considered the arguments of the Raju’s counsel that the trial in Satyam scam will take a longer time because the process of Letters Rogatory will take at least two years.

The judge directed the accused to furnish two sureties worth Rs 20 lakh each and the accused has to cooperate with the CBI and the trial court. Raju has to appear daily before the CBI and should attend all trial court's proceedings after his discharge from the hospital.

The judge ruled that Raju should not indulge in tampering of evidence, or influence the witnesses.

The police registered a criminal case against Raju and 9 others based on a complaint lodged by Ms Leela Mangat, a resident of Hyderabad.
However, Mr. T Niranjan Reddy, special counsel for the CBI said that they will challenge
the bail before the Supreme Court.

Justice Raja Elango, had ruled that Ramalinga Raju should appear before the trial court at all future hearings without fail. The Judge directed him to report to the investigating officer daily from the date of his discharge from the hospital. The Judge said the illness of the petitioner and his treatment in the hospital cannot be a ground for considering the grant of bail especially when it is evident that he was taken care of by a team of doctors in the best hospital in Hyderabad.