Hearing on Satyam plea adjourned

A special court on Friday posted to March 31 the hearing of a petition filed by Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) seeking release of company's records seized by the CBI.

The court also adjourned the hearing of other cases filed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate against the fraud-hit software major to the same date.

Mahindra Satyam, in its petition filed on February 15, requested the court to order the CBI to release documents and data storage devices sized by the Central agency and State CID (initial investigator of the case) during searches last year.

IT firm's counsel Shireen Sethna Baria argued that the company has to submit restated accounts to various agencies, including New York Stock Exchange, where it was listed.

She said as per the direction given by the Company Law Board, the software major needs to submit its final accounts before June 30.

"We will make all the documents available to CBI or any other investigation agency as and when they require," Baria assured the special court set up for the trial of the Satyam scam cases.

She said the CBI has not objected to the company's plea. After hearing the argument, the court posted the matter to next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, where Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju is undergoing treatment for hepatitis, informed the Judge that he may be medically fit to appear in the court in three to four weeks.

Raju, who is in judicial custody, is facing several charges in connection with the multi-crore accounting fraud which came to light in January 2009.

The NIMS, in its report submitted to the court, said Raju cannot be moved out of the hospital at present.

"He runs a very high risk of contracting severe infection outside due to much below normal WBC count, and hence it is not advisable to take him out of the hospital at present," Ajit Kumar, Professor and Head of Gastroenterology at NIMS, said in the report.

"In my opinion it may take 3-4 weeks for him to be able to appear before the honourable court," Kumar said. The CBI has filed cases against Raju and nine others in the Satyam fraud case.