The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which is probing into the Satyam Computer scam, will record the statements of the company's former Chairman B Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and former Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Vadlamani on February 14, and the Price Waterhouse auditors' statements on February 15.
Meanwhile, the bail petition of the Raju brothers and former CFO, which came up for hearing before the sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate court today, was reserved to February 18. The Raju brothers were arrested by the Andhra police on January 9 and were sent to judicial custody on charges of the Rs 7,800-crore financial fraud, while the former CFO was picked up by the sleuths a day later.
The anticipatory bail application filed by the SRSR Advisory Services director Suryanarayana Raju was dismissed the fourth metropolitan sessions court.
Meanwhile, the sixth additional chief metropolitan magistrate today reserved his orders on the petition filed by the Income-Tax department, which sought the court's permission to record the statement of Ramalinga Raju, to February 16. The magistrate also reserved his judgement on the petition moved by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) seeking permission to question the other accused in the case – former CFO Srinivas Vadlamani and Price Waterhouse auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri. It will be pronounced on February 17.
In a related development, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has stayed allotment of Rs 120-crore Gandikota road project to Maytas Infra by the state government on nomination basis. A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed about a fortnight ago by P Narayana Reddy of Kadapa district challenging the allotment of the project to Maytas, a company promoted by the family of B Ramalinga Raju. The government pleader then told the court that this decision was being reconsidered.
However, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told the Legislative Assembly a couple of days back that he would stick to his decision of awarding the project to Maytas Infra since "the project has been given to Maytas on a nomination basis so as to salvage another Rs 630-crore project, which is also being executed by Maytas-led consortium".
