Satyam fraud case: CBI seeks more time from Supreme Court

New Delhi, Oct 8 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday sought six months more time from the Supreme Court to investigate the alleged role of former Satyam chairman B. Ramalinga Raju into the multi-crore financial scam case.

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who has been approaching the apex court seeking its direction to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to sanction prosecution of A. Raja in the alleged Rs. 60,000-crore 2G-spectrum scam said the next hearing, would come up on October 22.

"The court has given them time till October 22 when there will be a hearing between the two sides. There was also a question made that how much time would CBI take to complete investigate the matter," said Swamy.

"The Solicitor General said that it couldn't be reduced less than six months. This will continue and I hope that I will be allowed to file a case against A Raja in the session's court. So we will see what happens on October 22," he added.

Earlier on October 5, the CBI questioned Raju for around three hours with regard to the case.

Raju, who appeared before the investigating officer (IO) on October 3, was issued a notice by the investigating agency on October 4 to appear before them for questioning in the 2008 scam.

Raju, the prime accused in the Rs 14,000-crore scam, had earlier evaded interrogation under the pretext of being medically unfit.

Raju was discharged from Hyderabad's Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) on Saturday, where he was undergoing treatment for hepatitis C for the past ten months.

Earlier on October 1, the Supreme Court issued notice to Raju on a petition by the CBI seeking cancellation of his bail granted by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Raju was granted bail by the Andhra High Court in August.

The CBI believes that Raju may try to tamper with evidence against him and influence witnesses.

He has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including Section 120B for criminal conspiracy, under Section 409 for breach of trust, under Section 420 for cheating, and under Section 468 and Section 471 for forgery.

Raju, Satyam founder and former Chairman, resigned from the company after confessing to country's biggest financial fraud of Rs 14,000 crore and disclosing massive financial irregularities in January 2009.

Andhra Pradesh Police arrested Raju and his brother Rama Raju on January 9, 2010. Nine other accused, including top company officials and auditors, were also arrested in the case. (ANI)