Updated

Hyderabad, Apr 9 (PTI/Agencies): A special court in Hyderabad on Thursday sentenced Satyam Chief B Ramalinga Raju and nine others to seven years of imprisonment, after they were found guilty in the multi-crore accounting fraud case.

Raju and his brother B Rama Raju were fined Rs five crore each by special court.

Former employee G Ramakrishna was also found guilty under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC by Special Judge BVLN Chakravarthi, in the case probed by CBI.

Except Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju and former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta, all the others eight accused were found guilty under IPC sections 467, 468, 471 and 477A, relating to forgery of security, forgery for purpose of cheating and falsification of accounts, according to V Chandrashekhar, Superintendent of Police, CBI Hyderabad Zone.

Charges against Raju and others include criminal conspiracy and forgery of valuable security carrying minimum punishment of ten years imprisonment and maximum of life sentence.

While the accounting fraud was to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore, it had caused an estimated notional loss of Rs 14,000 crore to investors and unlawful gains of Rs 1900 crore to Raju and others.

Ramalinga Raju and his brother and Satyam's former Managing Director B Rama Raju were also found guilty under section 409 of IPC relating to criminal breach of trust.

All the ten accused were present in the court, where media was not allowed, when the verdict was pronounced.

After pronouncing the order, the judge directed the CBI to take all the accused into custody.

Touted as the country's biggest accounting fraud, the Satyam scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, after the firm's founder and then Chairman Ramalinga Raju allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books and inflating profits over many years.

Raju was arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police's Crime Investigation Department two days later after he allegedly confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others.

Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years back.

Besides Ramalinga Raju, the others accused are - B Rama Raju, former Chief Financial Officer Vadlamani Srinivas, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta. Satyam was purchased by Mahindra & Mahindra owned company Tech Mahindra in April, 2009.

In February 2009, the CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets (on April 7, 2009, November 24, 2009 and January 7, 2010), which were later clubbed into one.

The first two charge sheets dealt with the account fudging by Raju with the assistance of nine others, while the third charge sheet relates to "violation" of various Income Tax rules.

While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third charge sheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws.

During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam, while the defence countered the charges saying the accused were not responsible for the fraud and all the documents filed by the central agency relating to the case were fabricated and not according to the law.

The Enforcement Directorate had also filed a charge sheet against them under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife Nandini Raju and sons Teja Raju and Rama Raju were among 21 relatives of the ex-Satyam boss who were convicted by a Special Court for Economic Offences here for default in Income Tax payment.

Last year, on December 8, Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, Vadlamani Srinivas and former director Ram Mynampati were sentenced to six months jail term and fined by the Special Court for Economic Offences in connection with complaints filed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for violation of various provisions of the Companies Act.

During the last hearing on March 9, special judge BVLN Chakravarthi said, "On April 9, the judgment will be pronounced. I am making it very clear. April 9 will be the final date for the verdict. No question of further adjournments. Court will not wait."