In this book Kingshuk Nag, resident editor of the Hyderabad edition of The Times of India , narrates the dramatic story of Raju's life , how he managed to leave a $2 billion company , India's 4th biggest IT company, penniless.
Mr Raju co-founded Satyam along with his distant cousin in 1987 and within a few years the company became a roaring success. The company spread across 66 countries in 5 continents with an employee strenght of 52,000. As an additional boosting agent, it was then Mr Chandrababu Naidu decided to emerge as India's most modern Cheif Minister and in the process he showcased Hyderabad as the most prefered place for IT industry. Thus Raju emerged as the new icon of Hyderabad and then US president's, Mr Clinton, visit made his presence known to the world.
It was Raju's craving for land (his family business) and blind love for his sons, which eventually put him in a position to leave the company, he made from scratches, penniless. By the time he went behind bars , Raju along with his family members were the owner of 6800 acres (9000 acres , as per unofficial estimates)of prime land in Hyderabad,Chennai,Bangalore and Nagpur among other places. To aquire the land, he pawned his shareholding in Satyam as well as his construction company Maytas Infra (which he was developing for his son).Also he fudged Satyam's books to inflate its revenues and profits inorder to increase the value of its shares.
Ramalinga Raju was a clever operator who played his cards close to his chest. Unless and untill he decides to tell his story noone will ever know the full extent of his frauds. Mr Raju, who was a shining star till yesteryears, is behind the bars now and as per medical reports he is suffering from various ailments like liver infection, plaque in coronory artories , heart problems etc. There seems to be no end to the yester IT czars woes.
This book throw light to few of the unanswered questions like How did Raju amass his IT and real estate empires ? How could he hoodwink the law, the shareholders and his employess for so long ? This indeed a good reading and wonder howmany such wrotten skeletons are yet to get revealed !!!!
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