Hyderabad: Former Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju was granted bail in the multi-crore scam by Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday. The High Court granted bail to Raju on health grounds saying he should not be discharged from the hospital.
Raju has been hospitalised at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad for treatment of Hepatitis C and other ailments since September 2009.
"Raju has been given bail on the condition that he will remain in Hyderabad till further orders and will have to give two securities of Rs 20 lakh each. He will have to depose before the investigating officer every day once he has been discharged from NIMS," Raju's lawyer Bharat Kumar said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which has been investigating the case, has decided to approach the Supreme Court against Raju's bail order.
CBI has been alleging that doctors have been prolonging the treatment of the Raju only to delay the trial in the case.
Raju has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including Section 120B for criminal conspiracy, under Section 409 for breach of trust, under Section 420 for cheating, and under Section 468 and Section 471 for forgery.
Raju has not attended court proceedings since trial started in September 2009 and his testimony was taken through a questionnaire served on him in hospital. He had retracted his confession, labelling all charges levelled by the CBI as false.
The Satyam founder and former chairman resigned from the company after confessing to country's biggest financial fraud of Rs 14,000 crore and disclosing massive financial irregularities in January 2009.
Raju and his brother Rama Raju were arrested by the Andhra police on January 9, 2010. Nine other accused, including top company officials and auditors, were also arrested in the case.
Fifty-four-year-old Raju faces up to 10 years imprisonment along with a fine, which may extend to Rs 25 crore in the financial fraud after confessing to diverting Satyam funds to two family-run firms - Maytas Properties and Maytas Infrastructure.
Satyam Computers, which is India's fourth largest software exporter, has already got a new owner after Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of auto major Mahindra and Mahindra, won the bid to manage the scam-tainted IT giant in April 2009. The entity has been renamed Mahindra Satyam.
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