Sebi officials enter the Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad on Wednesday. (PTI)

Hyderabad, Feb. 4: The counsel for Ramalinga Raju today objected to the manner of interrogation by Sebi, saying the Satyam Computer founder was not allowed to have any legal assistance, and threatened to challenge the process in the Supreme Court.

Following the Supreme Court’s order yesterday, a 5-member team from Sebi, headed by its south zone general manager Sunil Kumar, visited the Chanchalguda jail here today to grill Raju, his brother and former Satyam managing director Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani.

“I tried to meet Sunil Kumar, the investigating officer, to make a request for providing legal assistance to my client during the recording of the statement,” S. Bharat Kumar, Raju’s lawyer, told reporters outside the jail.

“However, Sunil Kumar refused to meet me and we will surely bring this issue to the notice of the Supreme Court,” the lawyer said.

He said the Raju brothers did not have any legal assistance as they were lodged in the prison. Also, they did not have any records to present their perspective of the case.

“The jail atmosphere is not conducive to make any voluntary statements. We will question the validity of the statements extracted in confinement,” Bharat Kumar said.

Raju and his brother were arrested earlier last month after he admitted to a massive Rs 7,100-crore fraud in the company.

Board meets

The new Satyam board met today but was yet to take a call on short-term funding and the strategic investors.

Chaired by C. Achuthan, the meeting was its fifth since January 17. The six-member board — all government nominees — will continue its discussions tomorrow.

Today’s agenda included raising short-term loans of Rs 600-700 crore from three public sector banks, a review of the around half-a-dozen takeover bids and the fate of the employees who were without projects.

“Satyam has reached an in-principle agreement with three leading state-owned banks to get short-term loans,” a spokesperson for the company said. The company can mortgage its land bank, valued at Rs 1,500–1,700 crore, to avail itself of this funding.

A special team of the US Security and Exchange Commission today met Sebi officials in Mumbai to get first-hand information about Satyam.

The US regulator is believed to have got an account of the progress in the investigations into India’s biggest corporate scandal.

The visiting team will now have discussions with the Satyam board in Hyderabad tomorrow.