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| Ramalinga Raju (right) after being released from Chanchalaguda jail on Saturday. Picture by G Vijayalakshmi |
Hyderabad, Nov. 5: Ramalinga Raju has just missed out becoming the chief executive officer of India’s first prison-based BPO.
The disgraced former Satyam Computers chairman cannot take the job despite his IT expertise because he walked free on bail this afternoon after 32 months in jail custody.
That wasn’t the reason, of course, why the 56-year-old had tears in his eyes as he stepped out of Chanchalaguda jail, where he had stayed in a special cell and had a tennis court built.
With him were freed his brother Rama Raju and Satyam’s former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, all three having been granted bail yesterday by the apex court.
Relatives and friends greeted Ramalinga warmly outside the prison but the Bangalore-based infotech firm, Radiant Technologies, would have felt a tad disappointed.
The company is upgrading a small jail-based call centre, opened by the government a year ago, into a full-fledged BPO manned by 1,000 prisoners. But for his release, Ramalinga would probably have headed it.
Radiant has trained the prisoners and provided the infrastructure and planned to have the BPO operating soon. It had been keen to engage Ramalinga, under whom the erstwhile Satyam ran its own BPO, Nipuna.
“Talks were on to draft him in,” a senior jail official confirmed.
Since the BPO will function from Cherlapally jail, 15-20km from Chanchalaguda, Ramalinga would have had to be shifted or make regular trips.
Not that the Satyam founder had had a very uncomfortable time in Chanchalaguda, where he had stayed since January 2009 except for 10 months in hospital a two-month period out on bail (which was later cancelled).
He and his brother, accused in India’s biggest corporate financial scam, were granted “B Class” status, meant for political prisoners, and lodged in special cells and given a toilet and a kitchen to themselves.
The family-run Byrraju Foundation then chipped in by sponsoring a tennis court at the jail, providing cheer to the 30-odd VIP prisoners, including eight former Satyam employees, bankers and politicians.
Ramalinga didn’t forget the small mercies today. He thanked the warden and other jail staff, especially constables Ramesh and Gopal, who he said provided him with good coffee from outside shops.
He thanked God for a last-minute bonus, saying he had expected to be freed only on Monday.
“Visit me sometime,” he told the jail employees who requested job references for their children. In jail, Ramalinga had often counselled staff’s wards on the technologies to choose and the companies that could give them an opening.
At his Jubilee Hills bungalow, bristling with activity after a long time, close relatives including sons Ram Raju and Teja Raju were waiting to welcome him home. Wife Nandini had returned after praying at several temples.
The family plans a Tirupati visit soon but Ramalinga may not be able to go. His lawyers, who had furnished the bond papers (Rs 2 lakh) and bail documents before the CBI court in the morning, said he cannot leave Hyderabad and has to be present in court during the trial.
Garagaparru, the Rajus’ native village in West Godavari district, celebrated their release by distributing sweets, bursting crackers and praying at the local Shivalayam.
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