Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju, main accused in the multi-crore accounting scam, is receiving a stream of visitors in the hospital, an indication that he is medically fit to attend the judicial proceedings, the CBI told a special court here today.
In violation of the court orders, persons other than Raju's wife and sons were allowed to meet him in the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), where the incarcerated founder of Satyam (now Mahindra Satyam) is admitted since early December, the CBI counsel said.
Raju's counsel had earlier said his client was not in a position to attend the court due to Hepatitis C-related ailments. The court had asked the NIMS authorities to submit a detailed report on Raju's health. According to the NIMS, his condition would improve in the next three to four weeks.
The CBI counsel, however, contradicted the NIMS' report and told the court that Raju was attending to visitors every day. The counsel submitted the details of the visitors to support his arguments.
The hospital record shows as many as 15 persons, other than his sons, repeatedly visited him till March 27, the CBI said, adding the visits were made between 10.30am and 8.10pm.
"This (the record) shows Raju had more than 200 visits. He was also able to talk to his advocates and can very well appear in the honourable court," CBI legal advisor, B Ravindhra Nath, told the Judge.
The NIMS, which recently submitted a report on Raju's health condition, said he cannot move out of the hospital as he runs a very high risk of contracting severe infection outside due to an extremely low WBC (white blood cells) count.
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The court sought an explanation from the Police Commissioner on the visitors' issue as the personnel posted at the hospital are drawn from the city police.
As per the records submitted to the court by the CBI, Raju's sons Rama Raju and Teja Raju both visited him at the same time on December 19, which is against the court order. The court has allowed only one son at a time to visit Raju.
Interestingly, in spite of court's permission, Raju's wife, Nandini, never visited her husband in the hospital since his admission over three months ago, according to the visitors list being maintained at the government-run medical facility by the armed guards.
Meanwhile, the court posted the hearing of cases filed by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to April 6. Another petition by Mahindra Satyam, seeking release of records from CBI, will also be heard on the same day.
The multi-crore accounting fraud at the IT major came to light in January last year.