No bail for Raju brothers, others in Satyam scam

A metropolitan court in Hyderabad today rejected the bail application of former Satyam Computer Services chairman B Ramalinga Raju and six others accused in the multi-crore accounting fraud, considered India's biggest corporate scam to have come to light.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate B V L N Chakravarthi pronounced oral orders denying the bail applications. Written orders are expected to follow.

Raju made a brief appearance in the court this morning before being escorted back to Chanchalguda jail in the city.

The accused in the Satyam scam had applied for bail on 1 August based on the Supreme Court's orders that they were free to approach the trial court for bail if the trial was not completed before 31 July. The apex court passed the order while cancelling the bail granted by the Andhra Pradesh high court to Raju and his co-accused.

The Central Bureau of Investigation subsequently challenged the high court's orders granting bail to Raju on health grounds; and the Supreme Court largely upheld the CBI's contentions.

Raju, along with Satyam's former managing director B Rama Raju, chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam, and former Pricewaterhouse auditor Subramani Gopalakrishnan had sought bail on the grounds that their trial was not completed before 31 July; and all the prosecution witnesses were examined.