The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services, in a USD 1.5 billion financial fraud case, after the CBI failed to file charges on time.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not file a charge-sheet against Raju within the statutory period, according to a court order seen by Reuters.
According to Indian law, charge sheet against an accused has to be filed within 90 days of arrest.
Raju, a management graduate from Ohio University who founded Satyam in 1987, shocked investors in January 2009 when he said the firm's profits had been overstated for years and assets falsified in a fraud allegedly worth more than USD 1.5 billion.
In November 2010, he surrendered to a lower court after the Supreme Court in August cancelled a bail granted to him by a lower court in Hyderabad, where Satyam is based.
In an auction in April last year, Satyam was sold to Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra, majority-owned by automaker Mahindra & Mahindra and part-owned by British telecoms firm BT Plc.
It was subsequently renamed Mahindra Satyam.
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