Court to get LCD projector, microphones for Satyam trial

HYDERABAD: The trial in the Rs 14 000-crore Satyam Computer accounting scam case would commence on November 8 with the examination of first witness of the prosecution at the additional chief metropolitan magistrate court here.
The magistrate granted the CBI permission to install an LCD projector to display the statements given by the prosecution witnesses and microphones to ensure that the arguments of lawyers and queries of the magistrate are audible to everyone in the court.
B V L N Chakravarthy, the 21st additional chief metropolitan magistrate and presiding officer of the trial court, on Tuesday posted the case to November 8 to take up trial on a daily basis.
When the case came up for hearing on Tuesday, CBI counsel K Surendra informed the court that six bankers who are CBI witnesses in the case would be examined by the court. The six bankers are Chittoor Seshadri Gopinath, regional head of HDFC Bank, Rakesh Patwari, vice president of HSBC's corporate banking wing, Vineet Puri, assistant vice president of Citi Bank, S R Vatsal, client banker in ICICI's corporate banking group, A Sabesan, branch manager of BNP Paribas and T V N Raghuram, state head of the banking division of HDFC Bank.
"We are ready to adhere to the Supreme Court deadline of July 31, 2011 to complete the trial," the counsel said.
The CBI is likely to show these bankers the papers pertaining to fake fixed deposits, the fake communications that were created by the accused and ask them to testify before the court as to what were the original amounts that were lying in Satyam accounts.
All the 10 accused including Satyam's former chairman B Ramalinga Raju were present in the court.
CBI DIG V V Lakshminarayana, who was also present in the court during the proceedings, told reporters later that they had taken several steps to reduce the number of documents and witnesses to be examined by the court in view of the deadline given by the apex court. "For instance, we have marked as many as 1,000 documents as evidence under Section 294 of CrPC," the DIG said.
"Most of these are sale deeds executed by the accused and the details about the 327 companies incorporated at their behest. Since the facts about these companies can be verified on the internet, the need for producing separate witnesses for proving the existence of these companies will not arise. This way we can reduce the number of witnesses and reduce the trial time as well," the DIG said.
The court would now issue summons to the witnesses cited by the CBI.