Ramalinga Raju's trial story looks bigger than scam

Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 23:14 IST   |    23 Comments
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Ramalinga Raju's trial story looks bigger than scam
Bangalore: It seems that Satyam Computer Services' Founder B Ramalinga Raju is unlikely to come out of custody in the years to come. The CBI has presented 800 witnesses and submitted 160,000 pages of documents in the court. Talking to Business Standard, to Raju's counsel, S Bharath Kumar said that it will take at least 800 days to examine 800 witnesses. The court has to record the chief examination of the witnesses, who would be later cross-examined by the advocates of the accused. With 10 accused in the Satyam case being represented by an equal number of advocates and if each of them wants to cross-examine every witness produced by the CBI, it will take at least one working day to complete the cross examination of one witness. If we go through the court procedure, we get to know that Court works for five days in a week, and if we take public holidays into consideration, there will be not more than 225 working days in a year. This means that it will take nearly four years just to cross-examine the witnesses. Also Raju, who is currently hospitalized at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, is expected to read the 160,000 pages of documents if he has to defend himself effectively in the court. When Business Standard talked to some of the, it came into the notice that it will take at least five minutes to go through a document page, understand it and instruct the advocates about it. At this rate, it will take 13,333 hours for Raju to go through the documents. Even if he manages to read for a minimum of 10 hours a day, it will take 1,333 days or over three-and-a-half years to complete the reading. The government has set up a special court to expedite Satyam case proceedings. But if we take all these things discussed above into notice, it seems that the trial will not be completed in less than four years. Till now, it is not clear when the CBI is going to complete its investigation. If we compare this case with Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh, who were involved in securities scams involving scores of companies, it seems that Raju is also not getting needed support from lawyers. Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh came out on bail in 107 and 53 days, respectively. According to NIMS doctors, who are treating Raju for Hepatitis C, the prime accused in the Satyam scam has bleeding in the brain, nose and liver. The risk to his life is further compounded by Raju's history of heart disease and hypothyroidism.