Flashback: Beginning of Satyam Computer

Although Mr Ramalinga Raju has been the face of Satyam Computers, the Hyderabad-based IT company was actually founded in June 1977 as a private company by him and his cousin Mr D. Venkata Satyanarayana Raju.

In June 1991, Satyam Computers got its first Fortune 500 Client and in August, it became a public limited company. In May 1992, the company entered capital markets with its issue being oversubscribed 17 times.

By 1992, the cousins had a difference of opinion over the issue of investing Satyam money in the other sister concerns - Satyam Spinning Mills and Satyam Constructions. While Mr Ramalinga Raju wanted to keep Satyam money in the company only, Mr D.V.S. Raju was against it.

However, the cousins parted their ways after their mothers brokered a peace deal between them. According to the deal, Mr D.V.S. Raju had to quit the company that he co-founded and had to face a three-year bar on starting another IT company of his own.

After three years, Mr D.V.S Raju started his own IT company VisualSoft, which was later merged with Applabs. He is now heading Gangavaram Port Ltd of Visakhapatnam. It has been 16 years since the deal, Mr D.V.S. Raju and Mr Ramalinga Raju are not on friendly terms. The only occasions they get met each other, according sources, is only during marriages of their relatives or common friends. ?

Following the exit of Mr D.V.S. Raju, Mr Ramalinga Raju roped in his another relative Mr Srini Raju in 1992.

From 1992 to 2000, Mr Srini Raju was chief operating officer of Satyam Computers. While Mr Ramalinga Raju ran Satyam Spinning Mills and his brother Rama Raju, who was CEO till Wednesday, ran Satyam Constructions, which has now split into Maytas Infra and Maytas Constructions.?

Last year, Ramalinga Raju’s sons - Teja Raju and Rama Raju Junior - had taken over Maytas Infra and Maytas Constructions.

2,000 Satyam staff resign

Around 2,000 employees of Satyam Computers resigned on Wednesday after its chairman B. Ramalinga Raju admitted to fraud of over Rs 7,000 crores.

Many more are expected to follow. Company sources said most had already got job offers. “Most have joined the clients for whom they were working," the source said. “These companies are more than willing to take them to cut their outsourcing burden.” Some reports said as many as 10,000 employees had quit the company overall, and its staff strength was now at about 43,000. This could not be immediately confirmed.

The company’s offices in Hyderabad wore a deserted look as staffers stayed inside.

The outgoing Satyam Computers chairman, Mr Ramalinga Raju, and his colleagues may face a four-cornered inquiry for the fraud of over Rs 5,000 crore. As per the law, Mr Raju will have to undergo a jail term of 10 years and will have to pay 500 times the amount as penalty if the charges are proved under Section 45 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act.