“My client B. Ramalinga Raju is very much available in Hyderabad. He denies reports appearing in a section of media that he is absconding or has fled from the country,” Kumar said in a statement.
Kumar said Raju engaged his services to represent him in the legal matters pertaining to his statement to the Satyam board on Wednesday. ( Watch )
Earlier in the day, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which has ordered a probe into the Satyam scam, on Thursday swung into action despatching its investigation team to Hyderabad, PTI reported.
The committee, headed by Sebi's southern region general manager A Sunil Kumar, has reached Hyderabad and will start the investigation soon, a senior official said.
Sebi formed the special team following the confession by the IT-major's disgraced ex-chairman B Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday admitting gross manipulations in the company's balance sheets in the past several years.
Raju could face arrest and serve 7-10 years in jail. He currently remains untraceable. ( Watch )
Earlier, sources in the Hyderabad police had said that Raju could have left for Texas on Wednesday morning from Hyderabad airport. Raju has not been seen in public ever since his confession, but TV reports suggested that he could have left for Texas.
There is a petition pending over his Maytas deal for which British Telecom's Solutions firm - U-paid had demanded presence of Raju and senior directors of Satyam for questioning by its lawyers.
According to another TV report, Raju may have also flown to Dubai.
Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday admitted to a Rs 7,000-crore fraud in the Hyderabad-based company and revealed that the balance sheet of Satyam had been inflated and that he would subject himself to the laws of the land.
On its part, the Hyderabad police said they would take action against him only if a shareholder or the regulator lodges a complaint. Raju had written a letter to the board giving details of the company’s balance sheet which has serious financial irregularities including inflated cash balances running into several crores of rupees.
The 54-year-old US MBA Raju's letter of guilt and resignation to the Satyam board and Sebi on Wednesday morning sledge-hammered India Inc, dumbfounded regulators, pummelled the company's stock, knocked the bottom out of the market, and cast a long shadow over industry in general and the IT sector in particular.
Satyam stocks took a serious beating yesterday with this latest news that has shocked investors. The stocks plunged by almost 80 percent at Rs 39 per share, at day close.
Ram Myanpati is acting as interim CEO of the company, who after expressing ``shock'', swung into damage control mode.
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