Court reserves order on Raju's bail plea for tomorrow

After hearing the arguments, the IVth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge T Eashwer Rao reserved his orders for Friday. Raju has filed bail petition on health grounds. He is undergoing treatment for heart and Hepatitis-C ailments in Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) hospital here. Opposing the bail plea of Raju, the deputy legal adviser for CBI, B Ravindranath, informed the court that the investigation was in progress into the charges of diversion of funds to the third party in the country and abroad by the accused.

The investigating agency has already written letters to six countries -- the US, the UK, Singapore, Belgium, Thailand and Mauritius -- seeking permission to examine their nationals, who worked with Satyam Computers, he said. "If the accused, who was highly influential, released on bail, there is a possibility to contact witnesses in foreign countries through mobile or any other means to influence them," Ravindranath argued.

The CBI prosecutor informed the court that a plea for conducting polygraph test on Ramalinga Raju, his brother and firm’s former MD Rama Raju and ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas is pending in the high court here. The CBI plea was referred to a division bench and is likely to come up on October 19. In such situation, if the accused is released, the investigation would be affected, Ravindranath said. On the issue of health condition of Raju, he said the best medical treatment was being provided to the accused. Raju, who was in judicial remand since January in the case, admitted with chest pain in the hospital on September 7. Later, he underwent an angioplasty for clearing two blocks in two heart vessels on September 15.

Raju's counsel Padmanabh Reddy urged the court to consider the plea on the ground of health condition of his client who is suffering chronic hepatitis C- Genotype which requires a minimum of 48 to 72 weeks under the supervision of experts in a hygienic atmosphere as the treatment is coupled with so many side effects. Reddy said, "My client’s right to defend himself in the present case will be in jeopardy and also results in violation of right to life, if he is confined in jail without bail."