The Andhra Pradesh High Court today reserved its order on the bail petition filed by B Ramalinga Raju, the prime accused in the multi-crore Satyam Computer accounting scam.
Additional Solicitor General Harin P Raval, who argued against the grant of bail on behalf of the CBI, filed an application before the court requesting it to form a special team of doctors to look into the health of Raju, who has been absent from the court proceedings due to medical problems since last September.
He said the CBI is doubtful about the veracity of the reports submitted by Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on Raju's health.
Arguing against the bail petition, Raval said the petition is not maintainable, as the Supreme Court, while dismissing the bail plea filed by the petitioner earlier in March, observed that the application can be renewed after some time. However, he said the apex court did not specify that the petitioner could approach the High Court at a later date for bail.
He said in the case of Talluri Srinivas, an auditor with Price Waterhouse and one of the accused in the same case, the Supreme Court had explicitly told the petitioner he could approach the High Court for bail. In Raju's case, the Supreme Court did not direct the petitioner to approach the High Court and hence, he had to file his bail application in the Supreme Court.
Raval opposed the bail petition, saying the CBI is still awaiting replies to Letters Rogatory sent to six countries. He also opined that the 250 odd witnesses the CBI mentioned in its charge sheet are former employees of the Satyam Computer and the accused may try to influence them.
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On July 20, the Andhra Pradesh High Court granted bail to five accused, including Raju's bother, B Rama Raju, and the former CFO of Satyam Computer, Vadlamani Srinivas, in the multi-crore accounting scam.
Except Ramalinga Raju, the other nine accused in the case got bail from various courts separately.