CID begins interrogating Rajus, Srinivas

Andhra Pradesh CID, which took former Chairman of Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and ex-MD Rama Raju and former CFO V Srinivas into its custody from the Chanchalguda Jail here has begun a thorough interrogation of the trio.

The Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate yesterday granted permission to the CID, investigating the Satyam fraud, to take the company executives into custody for four days for further probe. The court allowed the probing agency to question the accused during day hours in the presence of their counsels.

Following the magistrate's direction on providing medical treatment to the three, a doctor visited Ramalinga Raju and checked his health at the prison before being taken into the police custody.

A five-member CID team, led by investigation officer N Balaji Rao, took the custody of accused at around 1145 hrs amidst tight security. All the three accused were taken to CID's office at A C Guards here for further interrogation into the Rs 7,800-crore financial fraud. The road passing by the Chanchalguda prison was packed with media vehicles camped outside the jail premises since 7.30 am.

The CID team is being assisted by auditors and chartered accountants in its investigations to retrieve information from the documents of laptops, hard disks, papers and also CDs seized during raids from their residences, sources said.

The Raju brothers were in judicial custody since January 10 after their arrest on January 9 while Srinivas was in judicial remand after his arrest on January 10. They were arrested following Ramalinga Raju's admission that he cooked company balance sheet for the past 7 years to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore.