Former Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju granted bail

The Andhra Pradesh high court today granted bail to former Styam chairman B Ramalinga Raju in the multi-crore scam saying that he cannot be discharged from the hospital on health grounds.

Justice Raja Elango of the Andhra Pradesh high court also granted bail to former chief financial officer of Satyam Vadlamani Srinivas and three other former Satyam employees - G Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju and CH Srisailam - accused in the `14,000-crore accounting scam.

Raju has been undergoing treatment for hepatitis C and other ailments at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad since September last year.

Raju, who had resigned as chairman of Satyam computers, is facing charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, breach of trust etc under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The Satyam founder had resigned from the company after owning up responsibility for a `7,800-crore accounting fraud at the IT major.

However, by the close of hearing in the Satyam Scam on Monday, Raju had retracted all his January 2009 confessions, saying that all charges levelled against him by the CBI were false. Nine of the other accused also retracted their confessions.