SC asks Satyam’s Raju brothers why bail shouldn’t be cancelled

The Supreme Court has issued notices to Ramalinga Raju, founder of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, and four others, including his brother Rama Raju, former managing director of the company, asking why their bail should not be cancelled.

The notices came after the Central Bureau of Investigation approached the apex court challenging the release on bail of the perpetrators of India's largest corporate fraud.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court in July granted bail to Rama Raju, former Satyam chief financial officer V Srinivas and three other former company employees - G Ramakrishna, Venkatapathi Raju and Ch Srisailam.

The CBI saw it as a setback to its efforts to nail them in the accounting fraud.

Ramalinga Raju's letter of confession on 7 January 2009 brought to light the fraud of more than Rs7,000 crore. A Supreme Court bench comprising justices Deepak Verma and Dalbeer Bhandari issued notices to the five accused after solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, appearing for CBI, submitted before the court that these are the persons who have recruited some of the key witnesses in Satyam and may alter the evidence.

The Supreme Court asked the five accused to reply within a week.