The elusive second brother of B Ramalinga Raju,Suryanarayana,holds the key to a complex web of benami companies,land transactions and insider share trading in Satyam,according to the CID team investigating the case. He is the most important link in this entire plot. No one really knew of Suryanarayana Raju until we stumbled upon nearly 330 companies that he started for land and share dealings. He is absconding now and a search is on everywhere, the CIDs Additional Director General of Police ADGP A Siva Narayana says.
If Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju manipulated balance sheets and diverted money,B Suryanarayana Raju appears to be the mastermind behind the opening of dozens of front companies that were used to receive the money. Through these companies,he purchased thousands of acres of land in Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra and Karnataka for the family. The CID says it has records from the Department of Stamps and Registration of 340 land deals in the names of Raju family members. All these land deals were facilitated by Suryanarayana Raju. Insider trading also happened the same way. Money from these companies was used to buy Satyam shares when the prices were low and were sold off at higher prices. The shares were again bought back when the prices fell. This cycle always went on, an official said.
At least a dozen of the benami companies were opened in the guise of agro-products trading firms but were used to buy agricultural land to be later converted into non-agricultural land using another companys name. Suryanarayana Raju is also suspected to have opened two investment firms in Mauritius where money was transferred through hawala. This money was later routed back to the benami companies owned by the family. The CID officials say,some of this money may be traced to Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties,the two firms run by Rajus sons B Teja Raju and B Rama Raju Jr. The money was also used to buy property in Dubai and the US.
The CID has sought permission from the state Government to visit Mauritius to investigate the two firms Lakeview Investments and Lakeside Investments that Suryanarayana is suspected to have started.
It is believed that B Suryanarayana Raju initially assisted his brother Ramalinga Raju when he was into the real-estate business through Satyam Constructions. After his brother founded Satyam in 1987,Suryanarayana Raju continued in the construction industry till September 2000,when B Ramalinga Raju asked him to start several companies to manage the familys stake in Satyam as well as to purchase land. The firms were also necessary to assist the two fledgling firms managed by his sons Maytas Infra whose vice-chairman is his Ramalingas eldest son B Teja Raju and Maytas Properties headed Rama Raju Jr.
While his two brothers hogged the limelight by virtue of being with Satyam,Suryanarayana always remained in the background. A recluse,who also preferred to stay independently at the office-cum-residence of SRSR Holdings at Jubilee Hills,Suryanarayanas wife Jhansi Ranis name figures in several land deals. His son Prasad Raju is a managing director of Maytas Infra.
While Ramalinga Raju started Satyam and his youngest brother Rama Raju joined it as a director,the middle sibling Suryanarayana was kept away from Satyam. Ramalinga Raju entrusted him the task of setting up a firm that would handle the familys stake in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Suryanarayana Raju not only started SRSR Holdings located at Jubilee Hills but also opened six other companies whose names start with SRSR which stands for Suryanarayana Raju and Satyanarayana Raju,a cousin of the Rajus.
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According to CID officials,they have information about 330 benami companies so far. Many documents and sale deeds were made under the names of different companies. Suryanarayana facilitated at least 340 land deals. We suspect there may be more than 100 such companies,many of which exist only on paper. Some of these companies were used to maintain properties and business establishments in several countries, said a CID officer.
It was allegedly Suryanarayana Raju who convinced several members of Rajus extended family to lend their names to property registrations. The CID says that the Department of Registrations and Stamps has provided details of 340 land deals across the state in the names of Ramalinga Rajus family.
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