Supreme Court denies Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju bail

New Delhi, Mar.15 (ANI): Disgraced Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju's plea for bail in connection with a multi-crore fraud case has been denied by the Supreme Court.When serious crimes are committed, people are bound to be in jail," a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan observed on Monday.

Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan were also in no mood to grant Raju bail.

They said he had the propensity to influence witnesses and, hence, his bail could not be granted.

Raju, 56, claimed that he was entitled to bail as the 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 said he was 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 apex court said Raju cannot be released until the main witnesses in the case are examined.

Raju, who resigned as chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. has been charged for his role in a Rs 7,100 crore financial scam.

He moved a plea for bail in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on January 18 dismissed a revision petition of Raju and two others, challenging a lower court"s order remanding them to police custody.

The magistrate had adjourned hearing on the bail petition of all three accused to Jan 22 and remanded them to judicial custody till January 23. (ANI)