The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted conditional bail of 6 months to 5 former Satyam employees - G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju, Ch Srisailam, Satyam's former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta and former Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) auditor Subramani Gopalakrishnan - in the Rs. 617 crore income tax fraud case.
A division bench headed by Justice D Bhandari and Justice Deepak Mishra granted bail to the 5 accused on a surety bond of Rs. 2 lakh each, and a warning that they would not try to tamper with the evidences in the case (failing which their bail would be cancelled).
The accused had sought bail on the grounds that the trial in the Satyam scam was not completed within the Supreme Court's stipulated deadline of 31 July, and that all the prosecution witnesses have been examined.
The prime accused in the case - former Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju and his brother and former MD B Rama Raju - are still in judicial custody.
The Income Tax Department had raised the tax demand on account of the fudged income statements shown by the company since 2002 during the regime of disgraced founding chairman Ramalinga Raju.
The court has also requested the trial court to complete the trial as early as possible. In October last year, the court had stated that the accused could file another bail application only after 31 July 312011, if the trial in the case was not completed in the local court.
Earlier, the accused had filed a petition seeking bail, in the High Court, in August.
After their pleas were rejected in the state High Court, they moved a petition in the Supreme Court.
Of the 10 accused in the case, B Suryanarayana Raju, who is Raju's brother, and T Srinivas, a former auditor of PWC, had been granted bail by different courts earlier. (INN)