Ghotala.in

Roses, posters, prayers for jailed Satyam’s Raju

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Contemplating his fate from a prison cell, his reputation shattered, Ramalinga Raju, the founder of India’s Satyam Computer Services, can still rely on supporters to whom he will always be a hero.

Across the southern city of Hyderabad, home to No. 4 software services firm Satyam , prayers are being said for Raju, the man who plunged the firm into crisis by revealing a fraud which is India’s biggest corporate scandal.

“He was good at computers, bad at construction. He was not able to manage finance properly. You can’t be good at everything,” argued one Raju supporter, a college lecturer who asked not to be named.

Outside the jail where Raju is being held pending charges, supporters drop by to ask about him even as a probe into the fraud widens.

“Dear Sri Ramalinga Raju. We are with you. Please don’t loose (sic) confidence. Wishing you a happy pongal,” read one poster outside the city’s Chanchalguda jail on Wednesday.

A big pink rose was left by someone named “Nagaraj.”

Pongal, a Hindu harvest festival, was celebrated in south India on Wednesday.

Satyam, which means truth in Sanskrit, has been battling for survival since Raju resigned as chairman last week, saying profits had been falsified for years and $1 billion of cash and bank balances did not exist.

By Devidutta Tripathy ; Source: (Reuters)