Satyam Raju finally goes home on bail

HYDERABAD: Disgraced Satyam Computers founder B Ramalinga Raju and two others, accused in the multicrore accounting scam, sniffed and breathed fresh and free air once again as they stepped out of the Chanchalguda central prison here on Saturday after they were released on bail.After driving through the once familiar Hyderabadi traffic for about an hour, he reached his home in Jubilee Hills, where mediapersons were present in strength, and walked into his residence to a warm welcome from his close family members and one among those who visited him was popular film producer and director Ramgopal Verma.After an endless wait, Ramalinga Raju, his brother B Rama Raju and the firm’s former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas came out of the jail around 5.45 pm.Ramalinga Raju looked as cool as he was ever but the waiting media personnel made his happy moments short lived for a while.Added to this, vehicular traffic came to a halt on the already congested road leaving the trio stranded outside the prison entrance for nearly 30 minutes.Though everyone expected that the trio would come out of the prison after completing the required formalities in the court and the prison by afternoon, the process went on till evening.Raju’s counsels completed the formalities of securing the sureties and others by 4 pm and presented them before the in-charge court for economic offences wing of the Special Court for CBI cases.The documents were immediately sent to the prison authorities and, after the necessary formalities, the three accused were released on bail.Clad in a blue shirt and looking calm and composed, Ramalinga Raju walked out to land before waiting mediamen who tried in vain to get his bytes.A convoy of two CRVs, a Skoda and a Honda City were kept ready to carry the trio.The small contingent of policemen and the close aides of Ramalinga Raju had a tough time controlling the mediapersons.Lensmen and videographers climbed on the bonnet and top of the Night Hawk black CRV (AP 11AE 0123) and vied with each other to get a snap of him, leaving Raju embarrassed.The convoy came in the wrong direction from the Saidabad side and by the time the police could clear the mediapersons from the place, traffic increased on both the sides of the road, leaving the convoy stranded in the middle.As the convoy could not proceed towards the Old City side, it had to take a turn at the same place.The huge number of roadside tents erected to sell sheep for the Bakrid festival compounded the problem.It took nearly 30 minutes for the police to clear the traffic paving way for the convoy to pass much to the relief of Ramalinga Raju.None of Ramalinga Raju’s family members came to the prison but only a few close aides reached the prison who handled the situation.Within an hour, he reached his residence at Jubilee Hills.