SC cancels bail, orders Raju, 5 others back to jail

Satyam scam: SC cancels Raju's bail

NEW DELHI: Former Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and four others will soon go back to jail in the Rs 7,000-crore financial fraud case as the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled their bail reversing an Andhra Pradesh High Court order directing their release from jail three months ago.

The court, however, asked the trial court to speed up the trial and complete it by July 31 next year, and said that the accused could seek bail if the deadline was not met.

The decisive victory for CBI against odds -- voluminous evidence impeding expeditious completion of trial -- came after a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma accepted the agency's argument that release of the accused, who had recruited most of the employees who were now witnesses in the case, could allow them to influence the witnesses jeopardising a fair trial.

But, the Bench softened the blow by saying that Raju brothers and V Srinivas, G Ramakrishna, D Venkatapathy Raju and C Srisailam would surrender before court on November 8, so that they could celebrate Diwali with their families.

Asking the trial court to expedite the trial and complete it by July 31 next year, the Bench requested the chief justice of the HC not to transfer the trial judge as that could delay the trial.

To speed up the trial process, it asked additional solicitor general Harin Raval, who appeared for the CBI, not to cite the entire voluminous evidence but those crucial documents to save time of the trial court. Moreover, it also told him to make a list of material witnesses who needed to be examined by the trial court rather than producing all the 400-odd witnesses.

The order came on an appeal filed by CBI challenging an August 18 order of the HC granting bail to Raju and five others on the ground that the huge volume of evidence and large number of witnesses have snuffed out chances of an early conclusion of trial against the accused.

Though the apex court generally does not interfere with the orders of the HC granting bail, the Bench of Justices Bhandari and Verma reasoned for making an exception in Satyam case, one of the worst financial frauds that led to investors lose heavily in the stock market. "We usually do not reverse the bail granted by the HC, but the case is based on exceptional facts," it said.

The CBI had told the SC that most of the probe had been completed but the global nature of the scam was pending verification as it had sent out letters rogatory to six countries including the USA, UK, Belgium and Mauritius, and said the accused were needed to be kept in custody till it got responses.

After cancelling the bail, the SC was careful in adding a footnote -- no part of its order should be treated as dealing with the merits of the case and that the trial court would proceed with the case uninfluenced by its bail cancellation order.