Hyderabad, November 11: It was “action replay” of a bitter experience B Ramalinga Raju and five other accused in the multicrore Satyam scam had almost two years ago. On Wednesday, they were all packed back to the Chanchalguda jail where they will have to languish till July 31 next year when the trial is due to end.
Around 4 p.m all the accused- Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, Vadlamani Srinivasa Rao, G Rama Krishna, Gopal Krishna Raju and Ch Srisailam – whose bails were cancelled by the apex court recently – found themselves in the witness box in the presence of the XXI additional chief metropolitan magistrate. After completing the formalities, they were handed over to the police who escorted them to the Chanchalguda jail.
There was some drama prior to that as Ramalinga Raju kept the assembled journalists guessing throughout the day. He made an appearance wearing his now trademark surgical mask earlier in the morning as the proceedings began in the trial court at the Nampally court complex. So did the other accused. But soon after, he made his way out sparking off feverish speculation as to when and whether he will surrender. As per the apex court orders, he was to give himself up on Wednesday.
Ramalinga Raju, however, set at rest the speculation in the post-lunch session when he arrived around 3 p.m. Heavily armed policemen waited patiently outside the courthall to take him to Chanchalguda.
As the media jostled to take a snapshot of Ramalinga Raju, the security personnel made him sit and one of them even held up a newspaper to cover his face. Ramalinga Raju will be in judicial remand till July 31 since the Supreme Court has ordered that he cannot even move a bail plea. “As per the Supreme Court order if the trial is not completed by July 31, the accused can move a bail petition,’’ CBI Deputy IG V V Lakshminarayana said.
–Agencies