Court stays warrant against Satyam's Raju

The Bombay high court on Tuesday put a stay on the on the production warrant against B Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam Computer and asked a local court to speed up the hearing on his application for transfer of a cheating case to Hyderabad.

Upon a complaint filed by one C Anthony Lewis, a Satyam shareholder, a local magistrate had in November last year issued a production warrant against Raju, his brother Ramaraju B, and a few other erstwhile Satyam officials.

The complaint was filed after the Satyam scam came to light. Lewis claimed that Raju and others had cheated shareholders.

After the Mumbai magistrate issued warrant against Raju on November 30 last year, his lawyers filed a petition in the Bombay high court, and got a stay on the execution of the warrant last month.

The high court had in December last year stayed the production warrant.

Justice S C Dharmadhikari directed for the stay to continue and asked the magistrate to dispose of within six weeks the application made by Raju under section 210 of CrPC seeking transfer of the case to a court in Hyderabad.

Raju's lawyer argued the case to be transferred to the special court in Hyderabad asserting that his client is already facing trial there related to the alleged scam.

Raju was Satyam's Chairman until January 7, 2009 when he resigned from the company's board after admitting to corporate fraud. The Andhra Pradesh Police arrested him on January 9 last year.

Satyam was created by Raju and others and was until recently perceived to be among the top Indian IT companies.