HC dismisses Raju's petition, allows ED to record statements

The Andhra Pradesh High Court today dismissed the petition filed on behalf of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and others opposing permission granted to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question them in jail.

The petition was filed on June 10 after the XIV additional chief metropolitan magistrate allowed officials from the ED, a central government wing, to record the statements of the accused in the Satyam case at the Chanchalguda prison here. The petition was heard the same day but the judge posted the matter for June 12.

The lower court had permitted the ED to question Raju, his brother and former managing director B Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani and two Price Waterhouse auditors S Gopalakrishna and Srinivas Talluri from June 9 to 16.

The defence counsel alleged that the lower court had abused its powers in granting permission to the ED to question Raju and others under Section 3 of the Money Laundering Act. The petitioners mainly contended that there was nothing more to dig out as they had already told everything they could to the CBI, CID, Serious Fraud Investigation office and others. Moreover, the documents were in possession of the CBI.

Justice G Bhavani Prasad refused to interfere with the trial court orders on the ground that it was neither illegal nor it resulted in miscarriage of justice. ED had powers to question, he noted, adding that it merely sought to record the statements and that was different from seeking their physical custody. Moreover, the statements were being recorded in the presence of defence counsel to ensure that their rights were protected.