Hyderabad, April 29 (IANS) A special court Wednesday extended the judicial custody of disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju and other accused in the Rs.78 billion fraud case till May 13.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the scam, brought Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas and six other accused before the special court hearing CBI cases.

This is the first time that all the accused were brought before 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S. Samuel Victor Emmanuel, who extended their judicial remand by two weeks.

The prosecution sought time to submit copies of chargesheet to the accused. The federal agency officials said the accused would be served copies of the chargesheet on May 4. Each accused will be given two boxes each containing the chargesheet and supporting documents.

The CBI had filed the chargesheet in the court on April 7, charging Raju brothers and others with cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery.

The court adjourned to May 8 the hearing on CBI petition seeking its permission to conduct lie detector tests on Raju brothers and other accused.

The hearing on bail petitions of two accused D. Venkatapathi Raju, former senior manager (finance), and Ch. Srisailam, former assistant manager (finance), was also adjourned.

All the accused were later sent back to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

Ramalinga Raju had quit as Satyam chairman Jan 7 this year while confessing he cooked the company’s account books and inflated profits over the past several years.

The Rajus were arrested Jan 9. Srinivas was picked up the next day. Two former auditors from Pricewaterhouse were also arrested the same month.

The CBI, which took up the investigations in February, arrested other accused earlier this month.