It is nearly six months since the special fast track court was set up to conduct trial in the multi-crore accounting fraud case of Satyam computers, promoted by B Ramalinga Raju. Yet, not a single person was questioned as part of trial since the court has been adjourning the case every week on the grounds of ill-health of Raju.
Raju has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the longest-serving undertrial prisoner in Indian corporate history, by being in judicial custody for nearly 15 months now. Even Harshad Mehta in the securities scandal came out on bail within 107 days.
However, if the court continues to deny bail to Raju, he is unlikely to come out of custody in the years to come. The CBI has listed 800 witnesses and submitted 160,000 pages of documents, collected from various premises belonging to Satyam and its associates. Apart from these, 100 material objects like computers and software were filed. It will take at least 800 days to examine 800 witness. The court has to record the chief examination of the witnesses, who would be later cross-examined by the advocates of the accused. With 10 accused in the Satyam case being represented by an equal number of advocates and if each of them wants to cross-examine every witness produced by the CBI, it will take at least one working day to complete the cross examination of one witness.
As the court works for five days a week and taking into consideration other public holidays, there will be not more than 225 working days in a year. This means it will take nearly four years just to cross-examine the witnesses.
Further, Raju, who is currently undergoing treatment at the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences here, is expected to read the 160,000 pages of documents if he has to defend himself effectively in the court. It will take at least five minutes to go through a document page, understand it and instruct the advocates about it. At this rate, it will take 13,333 hours for Raju to go through the documents. Even if he manages to read for a minimum of 10 hours a day, it will take 1,333 days or over three-and-a-half years to complete the reading. So, it is unlikely the trial will be completed in less than four years. And going by the reports of NIMS, where Raju is undergoing treatment, his health condition is deteriorating. If he continues to languish in jail, god forbidden, he might not be alive by the time trial is completed. So, whom does the court punish?
