Satyam chairman in judicial custody

By Sumeet Chatterjee

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - The chairman of India's Satyam Computer Services was taken into judicial custody until January 23, his lawyer said on Saturday, as authorities try to unravel India's biggest corporate scandal.

Ramalinga Raju and his brother B. Rama Raju, Satyam's co-founder and managing director, were arrested late on Friday on charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating, falsification of records and forgery.

"He has been sent to judicial custody until January 23," S. Bharat Kumar, Ramalinga Raju's lawyer, told reporters outside a magistrate's residence in the southern city of Hyderabad.

His brother was also remanded until January 23, and both will be held at the city's Chanchalguda jail.

According to Kumar, the magistrate said Ramalinga Raju's health was to be monitored after he said his client was not well. Kumar added he would file a bail application on Monday.

Hyderabad police said later they had also arrested the company's chief financial officer, Vadlamani Srinivas, and were questioning him.

"The charges against him are criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery of accounts," said V.S.K. Kaumudi, the city's Inspector General of Police. "We are not planning to arrest anybody else right now," he added.

The Indian government said it was working on selecting a new 10-member board for Satyam, after it dissolved the outsourcers' board on Friday before a planned Saturday meeting.