New Delhi/ Hyderabad, Oct. 26: In a major setback to the former Satyam chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled his bail along with those of five co-accused in the multi-crore scam.
A bench comprising of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma directed them to surrender before the jail authorities in Hyderabad by November 8. The accused were granted bail on July 20 and August 18 by the AP High Court.
Further, the SC also asked the 21st additional chief metropolitan magistrate Court at Nampally to conduct the trial in the case on day to day basis and conclude it by July 31, 2011. If that does not happen, the accused can again move a bail petition. The Andhra Pradesh High Court was asked not to transfer the notified judicial officer of the court until the trial was concluded. With this, the CBI efforts to get the bail of Satyam Ramalinga Raju cancelled have paid off. Framing of charges against the accused in the Nampally court a day before the SC hearing came in handy for the CBI.
“The SC observed that it was cancelling the bail granted by High Court in a short time because of the extraordinary facts and circumstances of these cases,” said the CBI superintendent of police, Mr H. Venkatesh, from Delhi.
The SC accepted the CBI’s stand that if the accused remained outside the jail they might tamper with the evidence in the case.
Besides Ramalinga Raju, the others whose bails got cancelled are B. Rama Raju, former Satyam MD; G. Ramakrishna, former vice-president (finance); Vadlamani Srinivas, former CFO; D. Venkatapathy Raju, former senior manager (finance); and Chetkuru Srisailaram, former assistant manager (finance).
The CBI counsel and additional solicitor general, Mr Haren Rawal, had made a strong plea for cancelling the bail.