Rajahmundry/Hyderabad: Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, who was convicted by a special court in Hyderabad, will be counted among disgraced heroes, who marred their reputation by their misdeeds.
The story of Raju’s rise and fall was both interesting as well as dramatic. He shot into prominence as the solo representative (as other industry biggies were based out of Bengaluru or Mumbai) of the IT industry in Andhra Pradesh — sharing dais with the world’s most powerful person of the day, US President Bill Clinton.
Even as his success graph in business, Raju created an image of an honest person and a great philanthropist, who believes in uplifting the society through sustainable projects.
He adopted nearly 220 villages across the unified Andhra Pradesh, including 180 in his native district West Godavari. He introduced for the first time the concept of rural BPO, which created jobs for educated in the hinterland, while stopping migration to cities.
He provided RO systems to villages, where people would pay only one rupee a day for purified water, developed primary healthcare centres, and introduced computer other amenities.
Raju got vocational training to youngsters, set up garment workshops for women. The villagers in West Godavari feel that he is responsible for launching 108 ambulance service.
Raju lost the halo when his proposed acquisition of Maytas firms got rejected by Satyam investors.
He was forced to reveal the fraud after DSP Merril Lynch, which was hired for suggesting strategic options, reportedly found out accounting irregularities and served termination notice. A day after, he confessed to the accounting fraud.
