Sebi petition for Raju's custody posted to Jan 19

The bail petition of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, his younger brother  and former Managing Director B Rama Raju and former Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Vadlamani has been posted to January 19.

"The hearing on the bail petition before the metropolitan magistrate in Hyderabad has been adjourned to January 19," S Bharath Kumar, counsel for the Raju brothers, told mediapersons, immediately after the court adjournment on Friday.

The court heard three applications today -- Raju brothers' bail petition, the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) application seeking court's permission to question Ramalinga Raju, and the third from police for custodial interrogation of the accused.

Bharath Kumar said the Sebi application was opposed by senior counsel SR Ashok on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction for recording statements of the accused in custody. "The court order on this will be pronounced on January 19," he added.

The application from the police seeking Raju's custody was opposed by senior defence counsels Padmanabha Reddy, Prakash Reddy.

"The police termed the Satyam incident as a huge white-collared offence and wanted to interrogate the accused to which the counsels argued that such custodial interrogation was not required. The hearing has been adjourned to January 17," he said.

Earlier in the day, Sebi had filed a plea seeking court's permission to question Ramalinga Raju. The defence argued that the Sebi chairman did not issue any summons to his client. "In what capacity did Sebi General Manager A Sunil Kumar issue summons to Raju," he questioned.

The counsel members of the regulatory authority on Thursday had remarked that their investigations into the Satyam scandal were being hampered as they were finding it difficult to obtain a court order each time they wanted to question the Raju brothers.

The defence had earlier moved a bail petition on January 12 but the court denied and said it would hear the plea again on January 16.