SC notice to CBI on Price Waterhouse auditor’s bail plea

The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on a petition filed by Price Waterhouse auditor Srinivas Talluri, who was arrested in the Satyam Computer Services fraud case for allegedly conniving with its founder B Ramalinga Raju and other aides in India's biggest corporate scam.

A single bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought response from the agency on the appeal of Talluri against the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court rejecting his bail plea.

The High Court had recently rejected the bail pleas of the two Price Waterhouse auditors, S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri accused in the accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd, which the CBI now says is much bigger than the earlier estimate of something over Rs7,000 crore. (See: Price Waterhouse auditor Talluri seeks bail in Satyam case)

Talluri, while denying any criminal wrongdoing in his appeal, said his role was minimal, and charged CBI with adopting an unprofessional approach by linking all the accused.

The auditors were arrested on 24 January on charges of conspiring in the fraud and are in judicial custody at the Chanchalguda central jail in Hyderabad. The CBI has already filed chargesheets against Ramalinga Raju and eight others including the two auditors.