The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed as withdrawn the bail application of Satyam Computers founder B. Ramalinga Raju, accused in the multi-crore financial fraud in the company.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B.S. Chauhan asked the petitioner to move the court after the examination of key witnesses.
When senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina, appearing for Mr. Raju submitted that the petitioner had been in jail since January last and it would take a long time for the completion of trial in view of voluminous documents running into 1.60 lakh pages, and 671 witnesses, the CJI told counsel: “When serious crimes are committed, people are bound to be in jail. He [Raju] is the main accused and the allegation is he would influence the witnesses. You move the court after [the] examination of [the] main witnesses.”
When counsel pointed out that another accused had been granted bail in the same case, the CJI said: “The auditor was not the main accused.” When counsel said the petitioner was suffering from serious ailments like cardiac problem and hepatitis, Mr. Justice Verma said he was getting proper medical treatment in jail.
Mr. Raju had filed this appeal against the Andhra Pradesh High Court order rejecting his bail plea. He said he was willing to abide by any conditions imposed by the court for his release.
He said the investigation in the case had been completed and a charge sheet was also filed and hence there was no need for further judicial custody.
Mr. Raju was arrested in January 2009 after his confession of fudging accounts in what was dubbed as the biggest corporate accounting fraud in the country. He has been under judicial custody.
