Hyderabad Jan. 23 A local court here on Friday rejected the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) plea seeking permission to interrogate Ramalinga Raju, former chief of embattled Satyam Computer Services Limited.

Rejecting SEBI's plea, the court said the petition itself was not maintainable.

Counsel of Raju, Bharat Kumar, said: "SEBI seeking permission of honourable court to record statement of Sri Ramalinga Raju and Ram Raju while they are in custody has been rejected by the court today."

The SEBI said in a statement that it had ordered an investigation into buying, selling and dealing with the company's shares. It added that it would also examine breach of the regulations, if at all.

Satyam's chairman and founder Raju resigned after revealing years of accounting fraud at Satyam, including an admission that about 1 billion US dollars, or 94 percent of the cash and bank balances on Satyam's books at end-September, did not exist.(ANI)