Satyam's Raju brothers arrested by AP Police

HYDERABAD: The Satyam Computer Services drama reached its climax on Friday evening with its promoters B Ramalinga Raju and B Rama Raju arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police and the Central government taking control at the tainted firm.  "We have arrested both Ramalinga Raju and Rama Raju based on a complaint registered by the Criminal Investigation Department. We have initiated legal action and anyone who is guilty will be punished," said Andhra Pradesh DGP SS Yadav.  Mr Ramalinga Raju, Satyam's disgraced chairman, along with former MD Mr Rama Raju, was arrested late Friday night, two days after he confessed to perpetrating a Rs 7,000-crore financial fraud. The CID had registered a case against Mr Raju based on his confessional letter to the Satyam board and SEBI. The Raju brothers have been booked for criminal breach of trust, cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery under the Indian Penal Code.  Friday evening saw the corporate affairs ministry stepping in to salvage Satyam by replacing its existing board of directors with 10 government-appointed directors. The move is aimed at preventing the existing board from tampering with evidence and to ensure the company continues its operations uninterrupted by an ongoing probe into the scam.  Corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta told reporters late evening that the Company Law Board (CLB) has given an interim order to restrain Satyam's directors from acting in their board positions. "On the government's petition, the CLB has also allowed the Central government to appoint 10 nominees to function as directors of the company," Mr Gupta told journalists. ET had first reported the government's plan to nominate directors on Satyam's board on January 8.  Late night meetings were still on at the government level to finalise a new board for Satyam. Names doing the rounds include former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, former SEBI chairman M Damodaran, former MphasiS chief Jerry Rao and angel investor Saurabh Srivastava.