Supreme Court dismisses Raju's bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail application of disgraced Satyam founder, Ramalinga Raju, the main accused in a multi-crore fraud case.

"When serious crimes are committed, people are bound to be in jail," a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan observed. The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan, was in no mood to relent and said that Raju, being the main accused, has the propensity to influence the witnesses and, hence, his bail could not be granted.

It also rejected 56-year-old Raju's argument that he was entitled to bail as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had already filed the third chargesheet in the case and that he was suffering from serious health ailments like cardiac problem and hepatitis.

The bench noted, "He (Raju) is also getting proper medical treatment." Senior counsel S Andhiarjuna submitted that Raju was languishing in jail since January 2009. The trial court would be required to examine 671 witnesses and peruse 1.60 lakh documents, further extending his stay in prison, he said.

He also submitted that several other accused including some senior auditors have been enlarged on bail and, hence, Raju was entitled to the same on the principle of parity. The bench rejected the repeated plea of Raju that the CBI should at least be given a notice on Raju's bail application.

The apex court said Raju cannot be released until the main witnesses in the case are examined. It said Raju can file an appropriate application for his bail at a later stage when all the main witnesses are examined.