The scam-hit Satyam [Get Quote] Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju, brother Rama Raju and ex-chief financial officer Srinivas are in 'protective custody', former Securities and Exchange Board of India chief M Damodaran said in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

He was replying to a query during a seminar of 'Venture Capital-Leverage' at IIM-A on inability of Sebi to question Ramalinga Raju due to some alleged legal restrictions.

Referring to his definition of protective custody, Damodaran said, "This is a peculiar case in which the police produced a person before the court and was granted judicial custody, not police custody."

Normally, cops insist for police custody in order to talk to them first and extract vital details. That is why they arrest people, he added.

"Instead, the police happily handed over them in judicial custody, so that Sebi needs to get court's permission first," Damodaran said.

"This is what I call that Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, and Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas are in protective custody," he added. "I don't know how the law will help when the state decides to provide protective custody," Damodaran said.