Raju, who has been undergoing treatment for liver infection in the Nizam Institute of Medical Science since September last, appeared for a few minutes in the court accompanied by his doctor.
B Ramalinga Raju, the tainted founder of Satyam Computer, today appeared before a local court trying the Rs 14,000 crore accounting fraud in the company, but framing of charges was deferred to August 26.
Raju, who has been undergoing treatment for liver infection in the Nizam Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) here since September last, appeared for a few minutes in the court accompanied by his doctor.
Magistrate BVLN Chakravarti allowed Raju, who was granted bail last week by the Andhra Pradesh high court, to leave the court when the later made a request to return to the hospital.
Arguing the case, Uma Maheswara Rao, Raju's counsel said Section 409 of IPC (Criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), one of the sections under which the accused were charged, will not be applicable to the case.
He argued that there was no audit conducted either by the company or by the CBI-the investigating agency to establish
that.
He found fault with the charge sheet in which the CBI alleged that PriceWaterhouse auditors were given freebies by the accused to manipulate company accounts.
"Auditing is a highly professional job and fee charged by auditors varies from one auditor to another. The CBI charge will not stand in the court of law," Rao argued.
Meanwhile, According to Bharat Kumar, also representing Raju, said that Raju appeared in the court because "it was one of the conditions set by the high court while granting bail. He will appear for the next hearing also."
Replying to a question, he said a petition would be filed in the High Court seeking exemption for Raju from personally appearing in the court until he is discharged from the hospital.
The CBI, which decided to challenge the high court's decision of granting bail to Raju, will file a petition in a day or two in the Supreme Court, said Lakshmi Narayana, CBI DIG. All the accused in the Satyam scandal were released on bail on different occasions.
According to Ajit Kumar, head of gastroenterology NIMS, Raju had no permission from NIMS to go out.
"I have not permitted him to appear in the court and I have told him that he (Raju) is not in a position to appear in the court. But he said he wants to appear in the court at his own risk. So in that case I cannot stop him from appearing in the court," Ajit Kumar said.
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