New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court Monday denied bail to scam-hit Satyam Computer Services Ltd's founder B. Ramalinga Raju, saying that he is the main accused in the case.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Verma and Justice B.S. Chauhan also apprehended that if he was given bail, Raju might try to interfere with the investigation or influence witnesses.

The bench refused to accede to Raju's counsel T.R. Andhyarujina's argument that Satyam Computer Services Ltd had been taken over by the Mahindra group and Raju had no control over Satyam Computer's employees.

The bench also discounted the argument that the probe was already over as the investigative agency had filed its main chargesheet, besides two additional chargesheets.

Andhyarujina contended that the entire trial was likely to take several years as it would involve examining documents running into 160,000 pages and 671 witnesses. But his arguments failed to sway the bench.

His plea that his client suffered from 'cardiac conditions' and related ailments also did not impress the court. He eventually had to withdraw the bail plea.

Raju is the main accused in financial scam amounting at Rs.7,100 crore that shook the IT industry. He had approached the apex court last Thursday for bail.