Hyderabad, January 22, 2009 (IANS)

Disgraced Satyam Computer Services founder B. Ramalinga Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas will remain police custody till Friday evening, a court ruled Thursday, as prosecutors said Raju had diverted Rs.74 billion (Rs.7,400 crore/$1.48 billion) from his company for personal wealth. The public prosecutors said Raju diverted Rs.74 billion from the company for personal wealth, forged bank documents to show non-existent bank balance of Rs.33 billion (Rs.3,300 crore/$660 million), and purchased thousands of acres of land under false names, public prosecutors told a court here Thursday.

"It is a multi-dimensional case involving fudging of figures, forging, benami (under false names) land deals and transfer of shares," the prosecutors told the court seeking extension of police custody of Raju and former Satyam chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas.

The police custody of Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju, who was Satyam's managing director, and Srinivas was to end Thursday. Rama Raju was sent back to jail. The criminal investigation department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh police want the custody of Ramalinga Raju and Srinivas to be extended for two more days further interrogations. But the court agreed to one day extension - from 4 p.m. Thursday to 4 p.m. Friday - after hearing arguments of the public prosecutors and lawyers for Raju and Srinivas. The bail plea of Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and Srinivas, will be heard Friday.

The prosecutors said Satyam had only 40,000 employees and not around 53,000 as claimed. "Every month Rs.200 million (Rs.20 crore) was being withdrawn in the name of the non-existent employees," they said. The banks with which Raju had dealings have sought one more day to verify their documents to assess which are forged. "We have to confront the accused with the documents to unearth the truth," they said, justifying the extension of the custody, which was opposed by counsel for Raju and Srinivas.

"There are several glaring instances of forgery. A letter supposed to be from HDFC Bank is forged. This has been confirmed by HDFC Bank to CID," the prosecutors said.

"Investigation has revealed that money has been used to buy land in Hyderabad and other places. About 400 (land) transactions have been found. Thousands of acres of land have been bought in benami transactions. We have to find out who forged the letters, documents," the prosecutors said.

"We also need the two in custody as only they can help us in retrieving information from computers. The entire world is watching us. Image of the country is at stake because of this multi-dimensional case involving fictitious bank deposits, fudging of figures, benami land deals and transfer of shares," the prosecutors submitted to the court.