Andhra HC grants bail to five more Satyam accused

The Andhra Pradesh High Court today granted bail to B Rama Raju,brother of former Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju. Four others also who were granted bail by Justice Raja Elango are former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas,G Ramakrishna,vice-president (finance),D Venkatapathi Raju,senior manager (finance),and C Srisailam,assistant manager. Now,except for disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju,all other accused in the biggest corporate scam are out on bail. Another brother of Ramalinga Raju,B Suryanarayana Raju has already been out on bail since March. All the accused are facing charges of criminal conspiracy,criminal breach of trust,cheating,forgery and falsification of accounts.

Earlier,solicitor general of India Gopal Subramaniam had urged the court not to grant bail to any of the key accused which could result in tampering of evidence and influencing the witnesses.

Last month,the high court had granted bail to former Pricewaterhouse (PwC) auditor S Gopalakrishnana and former internal auditor Prabhakara Gupta.

B Ramalinga Raju,who is under treatment for Hepatitis C infection at Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS),is the only accused remaining in judicial custody. A panel of NIMS doctors told the court that the second phase of treatment may take another six months. The CBI special court dealing with the case is hearing a petition by the CBI for examining him through video linkage between hospital and court,while rejecting another plea to question him through questionnaires.