The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to go the market regulator way in securing the custody of B Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and other accused in the Satyam scam.

The central investigating agency has filed a petition in a local court seeking the custody of the Raju brothers, the jailed founders of Satyam Computer Services, as part of its investigation. The case is set to come up for hearing on March 6.

However, sources tracking the case told DNA Money CBI custody would face resistance from the accused.

"Raju's counsel is prepared to counter the petition since there are no provisions to grant the custody to the CBI while the accused has already gone through the interrogation process in a court-approved custody by another investigating agency," a lawyer tracking the developments in the case said, requesting annonymity.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh had already questioned the Raju brothers and other accused in the case by seeking their custody through a local court in Hyderabad. "Once the accused are arrested, the investigating agencies will have to seek their custody in 15 days. That process has already been completed and there is no provision under the law to seek the custody again," the lawyer explained.

Meanwhile, the CBI is said to have made some progress in the case by consolidating the documents and other material collated by the CID so far. The agency is all set to go to the next level of investigation by confronting the accused with the material that has been put together.

It was on February 20, 2009 that CBI registered an FIR against the Rajus, directors and auditors of Satyam under Sections 120-B, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 477A of the Indian Penal Code.

With this, the agency had formally taken over the investigation from the CID.

The state agency had arrested the Raju brothers and Srinivas Vadlamani, the ex-CFO of Satyam, on January 9. They are currently lodged in the central prison at Chanchalguda in Hyderabad.

During their judicial remand, other agencies like Sebi, SFIO and the income tax department too had questioned the accused in the jail. The CBI's multi-disciplinary investigation team (MDIT) headed by the agency's DIG V V Lakshmi Narayana is yet to directly interact with the accused. k_ramana@dnaindia.net

K V Ramana DNA