30 charges framed against B Rama Raju in Satyam case

The main accused in the Rs 7,000-crore fraud,former Satyam Computer Services founder-chairman B Ramalinga Raju,did not appear in court even once and was examined through questionnaires submitted to the court through his counsel.

The court today read out the charges against B Rama Raju,former Satyam managing director and brother of Ramalinga Raju. There were 30 charges that the CBI accused him of. These included fudging of account books,forgery,fabricating of invoices and fixed deposit receipts,and falsifying of Income Tax (I-T) returns.

Rama Raju denied all the charges,stating that they were false.

The Magistrate also examined through questionnaires the eight other accused,including former Satyam chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas and two ex-PWC auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas. The court began the proceedings after one of the accused in the case,C Srisailam,withdrew his petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on whether or not the examination of the accused should precede a hearing.

On August 12,B Ramalinga Raju was given a questionnaire through his counsel,senior counsel M Natrajan. Raju pleaded inability to attend court as he was undergoing treatment for Hepatitis-C at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

The questionnaire contained 34 questions and Raju was asked to respond to the charges. The questions were framed by the court based on the CBI chargesheets and Raju sent the questionnaire back through his counsel,submitted in the court today.

Meanwhile,the AP High Court today reserved orders on the bail petition filed by B Ramalinga Raju. Except for Ramalinga Raju,all the other nine accused are out on bail.

Harin Raval,Additional Solicitor General,who appeared on behalf of the CBI,filed an application before the court requesting it to constitute a team of doctors to review the health condition of Raju who has been avoiding the court proceedings citing health grounds since September last.

“The CBI doubts the veracity of the reports submitted by the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences on Raju’s health,” Raval said. Raval also opposed Raju’s bail petition,saying that the CBI is still awaiting replies for the Letter Rogatory sent to six countries.