The Supreme Court of India permitted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday to interrogate former Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju and his brother, Rama Raju, in connection with the Satyam Fraud
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan directed the Superintendent of Chanchalguda central prison to allow SEBI's investigating officer Sunil Kumar to question the Raju brothers.
SEBI had since January 8, the day after Ramalinga Raju disclosed a Rs 7,800-crore fraud in Satyam, been trying to quiz the two brothers. But the Rajus were arrested by the state CID police on January 9 and since became inaccessible.
The regulator then approached a local court for permission to interrogate the Rajus, but the plea was rejected on technical grounds.
When hearing of its appeal in the Andhra Pradesh High Court was repeatedly deferred, SEBI moved the apex court for "urgent relief".
The Supreme Court today also said that Kumar will intimate the jail authorities in advance as to who will be accompanying him for the interrogation of the Raju brothers.
SEBI would be probing if there was any insider trading angle to the fraud since Raju had disclosed falsifying profits for years -- which would have helped inflate share prices.
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