Ramalinga Raju's wife, kin sentenced for tax evasion

Hyderabad, A court here Thursday sentenced 80 directors, including kin of Satyam founder B.Ramalinga Raju, belonging to firms affiliated to erstwhile Satyam Computers to one year jail in an income tax evasion case, while four women directors got six months each.

The four women sentenced by the Economic Offences Court include Nandini, wife of Raju, and the wife of his brother. The court also imposed Rs.5,000 fine on each.

The 80 male directors include several relatives of Ramalinga Raju, who is currently on bail in the multi-crore Satyam fraud.

Special judge M. Laxman suspended the sentence of all 84 directors for one month. He passed the orders on the request of the accused so that they can challenge the verdict in a higher court.

Public prosecutor Ramakrishna Reddy said the accused did not pay the tax ranging from Rs.93 lakh to Rs.2 crore. They were charged under various sections of the Income Tax Act.

The case is not related to Satyam fraud, in which Ramalinga Raju, his two brothers and seven other accused are currently on bail.

It was in Jan 2009 that Ramalinga Raju, the then chairman of Satyam Computers, had confessed to inflating the company's accounts for several years to enhance its share value.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Raju and others for what is described as India's biggest corporate fraud, which finally led to Tech Mahindra taking over Hyderabad-based company in an auction conducted by the government.