The Supreme Court today granted bail to Satyam founder, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother, Mr B. Rama Raju, and former Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr V Srinivas. They were arrested for their alleged role in the multi-crore accounting fraud involving the company.
The apex court found it appropriate to grant them bail after considering the facts of the case and the totality of the circumstances, including that the accused have already been in jail for two years and eight months. The court also noted that Mr Raju had cooperated during the trial.
The bail was granted to the three accused on a personal bond of Rs two lakh each along with two sureties of the same amount. The court permitted the CBI to approach it to cancel its bail order if the accused misuse the freedom granted by it or attempt to influence the trial.
The accused have also been asked to surrender their passports before the trial court in case they have not done it so far. The apex court also asked the Special Court in Hyderabad to expeditiously finish the trial.
Mr Ramalinga Raju was arrested in January 2009. Though he was granted bail by the Andhra Pradesh High Court last year, the apex court had in October last year cancelled his bail. The apex court had then given the liberty to the accused to apply for bail if the trial in the case is not concluded by July 31, 2011.
The apex court had last month granted bail to five other accused – former Satyam executives Mr D Venkatpathi Raju, Mr Srisailam and Mr G Ramakrishna, the company’s former internal chief auditor Mr V S Prabhakar Gupta and PriceWaterhouseCooper’s former auditor Mr S Gopalakrishnan. Former PWC auditor Mr T Srinivas and Mr Raju’s younger brother, Mr B Suryanarayana Raju, were earlier given bail by different courts.