Satyam’s Ramalinga Raju files fresh bail plea

Satyam Computer Services founder and chairman B Ramalinga Raju on Tuesday filed a fresh bail application in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, claiming that he had voluntarily surrendered to the police and was cooperating with the investigating agencies in all respects ''as a law-abiding citizen''.

Apart from Raju, all the other nine accused in India's biggest corporate fraud have been granted bail at one point or another. Raju is undergoing treatment for hepatitis-C at a Hyderabad hospital while officially in police custody.

Stating that the time prescribed by the high court to the Central Bureau of Investigation had expired long ago but it is yet to frame charges, Raju sought to be released on bail. The bail application is likely to come up for hearing in a day or two.

In view of the changed circumstances in the Satyam case, a long-drawn legal battle is likely as apart from Raju, the other nine accused in the accounting fraud are also likely to deny the charges.

However, the CBI is of the view that it will be able to prove its case.

"The fact that Raju wrote a letter of confession will be proved by people who have received it, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which is a quasi-legal body. All that we have to do is to prove that Raju had not made this confession statement under duress and that he made it on his own, since no crime was registered against him at the time he made this statement," the sources said.