Hyderabad, June 17: B. Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of the erstwhile Satyam Computers, will stay for at least seven more months in a cosy, airconditioned room of Hyderabad’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences ( NIMS), thanks to the cooperation of the doctors and the callousness of the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI).
Raju, the prime accused in the Rs 7,800 crore accounting scam that almost killed the company and would have left close to 40,000 jobless, has been dodging trial in the special court since September 9 last year on the grounds that he is suffering from
Hepatitis C and that he cannot meet the prosecution.
On Wednesday, too, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Justice B. V. L. N. Chakravathi posted the case to June 23 without taking any decision on the CBI’s formal request to try Raju via videoconferencing.
The CBI, which had almost completed the investigation within nine months of the scandal breaking out, has failed to bring Raju to court for the next nine. It has neither challenged the periodic reports submitted by NIMS on Raju’s health nor has it requested the court to seek a second medical opinion to find out whether he was really so sick that he could not appear before the court.
“ We are not interested in contesting the NIMS report,” CBI deputy inspector general V. V. Lakshminarayana said. “ We have been asking for Raju’s trial, whether in person or through a video link. As he is in judicial custody, it is for the court to question the authenticity of the NIMS report or seek a second medical opinion.” NIMS authorities, too, seem to resist Raju’s trial. This was evident from the way they ignored the court directive to submit the medical report on June 7. NIMS authorities said they had forgotten that they had to submit the report. According to the latest medical report submitted to the court on Monday by Dr Ajit Kumar, a gastroenterologist at NIMS, Raju would not be able to move out of the hospital for another 28 weeks or close to seven months. The report says that Raju would have to undergo the second phase of treatment for Hepatitis C involving 24 injections. His vital counts will be checked again after the completion of the 24- injection course according to international guidelines, the report said.
Gastroenterologists from other hospitals, however, have expressed doubts over the
NIMS report. “ As far as I gather from media reports, NIMS had nowhere stated whether the condition of the patient undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C was compensated or de- compensated,” said Dr Manu Tandan, senior consultant ( gastroenterology), Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad.
“ If a Hepatitis C patient is compensated, he can go back home after the weekly injection of the drug. But if he is a decompensated patient, he cannot be discharged and his condition is said to be chronic.” Dr Tandan said the NIMS report does not state whether Raju was a chronic patient likely to develop liver cirrhosis.
“ The only chance of survival of such patients is to undergo liver transplantation,” he said.
Dr S. Vidyasagar, head of gastroenterology at Hyderabad’s Gandhi Government Medical College, confirmed this. He said a regular Hepatitis C patient can do his job normally even after taking an Interferon injection.
“ Patients in the early stages of cirrhosis can continue to work normally,” he said. “ In
the advanced stages, a patient could develop severe jaundice and have blood vomiting, which ultimately leads to kidney failure.
Only under these circumstances can the patient not move out of the bed and he needs liver transplantation.
I do not know in what stage Ramalinga Raju is.” Nowhere does Raju’s medical report submitted say he is suffering from cirrhosis nor does it mention the need for liver transplantation.
It also does not mention whether Raju was in a compensated or de- compensated state.
Instead, the report said Raju is responding to the treatment.
The CBI counsel never contested this report. All that he requested the court was to at least allow Raju’s prosecution through videoconferencing. This too is being opposed by Raju’s lawyers.
The only time the CBI challenged the NIMS report was in April, when its counsel B. Ravindranath submitted an NIMS visitors’ log to the court that showed Raju was receiving visitors, even though doctors said he was not fit to face the prosecution.
Subsequently, Headlines Today broke the story on the “ critically ill” scamster receiving his relatives, friends and lawyers hundreds of times at his hospital suite. The counsel said that as many as 240 visitors had met Raju in the previous three months and if we are to add the number of visitors between September and December 2009, the figure would cross 500.
The court order says only Raju’s wife and sons can visit him in the hospital, but Raju had a steady stream of visitors.
Yet, the CBI did not stress this point and conveniently ignored it while seeking trial of Raju through video link.
By seeking trial by videoconferencing, the CBI has indirectly given an opportunity for Raju to continue his stay at NIMS for an indefinite period. Given the stiff resistance being put up by Raju’s lawyers and other accused, it is not certain how long it will take for the court to decide on the trial through a video link.
Director General of Prisons C. N. Gopinath Reddy said: “ We do send sick undertrials from Chanchalguda prison to government hospitals for treatment and they return to the jail after the treatment. There were cases in the past of certain undertrials requiring specialised treatment for which we sent them to NIMS or other superspeciality hospitals. But, so far, we have not come across any patient like Raju.”
Hepatitis C and that he cannot meet the prosecution.
On Wednesday, too, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Justice B. V. L. N. Chakravathi posted the case to June 23 without taking any decision on the CBI’s formal request to try Raju via videoconferencing.
The CBI, which had almost completed the investigation within nine months of the scandal breaking out, has failed to bring Raju to court for the next nine. It has neither challenged the periodic reports submitted by NIMS on Raju’s health nor has it requested the court to seek a second medical opinion to find out whether he was really so sick that he could not appear before the court.
“ We are not interested in contesting the NIMS report,” CBI deputy inspector general V. V. Lakshminarayana said. “ We have been asking for Raju’s trial, whether in person or through a video link. As he is in judicial custody, it is for the court to question the authenticity of the NIMS report or seek a second medical opinion.” NIMS authorities, too, seem to resist Raju’s trial. This was evident from the way they ignored the court directive to submit the medical report on June 7. NIMS authorities said they had forgotten that they had to submit the report. According to the latest medical report submitted to the court on Monday by Dr Ajit Kumar, a gastroenterologist at NIMS, Raju would not be able to move out of the hospital for another 28 weeks or close to seven months. The report says that Raju would have to undergo the second phase of treatment for Hepatitis C involving 24 injections. His vital counts will be checked again after the completion of the 24- injection course according to international guidelines, the report said.
Gastroenterologists from other hospitals, however, have expressed doubts over the
NIMS report. “ As far as I gather from media reports, NIMS had nowhere stated whether the condition of the patient undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C was compensated or de- compensated,” said Dr Manu Tandan, senior consultant ( gastroenterology), Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad.
“ If a Hepatitis C patient is compensated, he can go back home after the weekly injection of the drug. But if he is a decompensated patient, he cannot be discharged and his condition is said to be chronic.” Dr Tandan said the NIMS report does not state whether Raju was a chronic patient likely to develop liver cirrhosis.
“ The only chance of survival of such patients is to undergo liver transplantation,” he said.
Dr S. Vidyasagar, head of gastroenterology at Hyderabad’s Gandhi Government Medical College, confirmed this. He said a regular Hepatitis C patient can do his job normally even after taking an Interferon injection.
“ Patients in the early stages of cirrhosis can continue to work normally,” he said. “ In
the advanced stages, a patient could develop severe jaundice and have blood vomiting, which ultimately leads to kidney failure.
Only under these circumstances can the patient not move out of the bed and he needs liver transplantation.
I do not know in what stage Ramalinga Raju is.” Nowhere does Raju’s medical report submitted say he is suffering from cirrhosis nor does it mention the need for liver transplantation.
It also does not mention whether Raju was in a compensated or de- compensated state.
Instead, the report said Raju is responding to the treatment.
The CBI counsel never contested this report. All that he requested the court was to at least allow Raju’s prosecution through videoconferencing. This too is being opposed by Raju’s lawyers.
The only time the CBI challenged the NIMS report was in April, when its counsel B. Ravindranath submitted an NIMS visitors’ log to the court that showed Raju was receiving visitors, even though doctors said he was not fit to face the prosecution.
Subsequently, Headlines Today broke the story on the “ critically ill” scamster receiving his relatives, friends and lawyers hundreds of times at his hospital suite. The counsel said that as many as 240 visitors had met Raju in the previous three months and if we are to add the number of visitors between September and December 2009, the figure would cross 500.
The court order says only Raju’s wife and sons can visit him in the hospital, but Raju had a steady stream of visitors.
Yet, the CBI did not stress this point and conveniently ignored it while seeking trial of Raju through video link.
By seeking trial by videoconferencing, the CBI has indirectly given an opportunity for Raju to continue his stay at NIMS for an indefinite period. Given the stiff resistance being put up by Raju’s lawyers and other accused, it is not certain how long it will take for the court to decide on the trial through a video link.
Director General of Prisons C. N. Gopinath Reddy said: “ We do send sick undertrials from Chanchalguda prison to government hospitals for treatment and they return to the jail after the treatment. There were cases in the past of certain undertrials requiring specialised treatment for which we sent them to NIMS or other superspeciality hospitals. But, so far, we have not come across any patient like Raju.”
—Agencies