A division bench of the Telangana high court has reportedly allowed audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to sue Ramalinga Raju, the former chairman of Satyam Computers, for Rs 100 crore for sullying the audit firm’s reputation.

Raju hit the headlines in 2009 when he admitted to manipulating the company’s accounts.

Subsequently, the IT services firm was acquired by Tech Mahindra and it initially operated as a separate entity called Mahindra Satyam.

In 2012, Mahindra Satyam was merged with Tech Mahindra.

PwC was the statutory auditor for Satyam Computers between 2000 and 2009. The auditor had sued Raju and others as it claimed their conduct had affected its image and it had lost a lot of business as a result.

A civil court in Hyderabad had earlier rejected the plea made by Raju against the claims of the auditor.

Raju subsequently filed a civil revision petition which has now been dismissed by the division bench of Justice P. Naveen Rao and Justice Nagesh Bhimapaka. This means that the civil court can resume the hearing on the suit filed by PwC against Raju and others.

While Tech Mahindra has also sought damages and a consolidated suit along with it as they are part of the same issue, this was allowed by the high court.

In February, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) had set aside market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) orders that had barred Ramalinga Raju, B. Rama Raju and others from the securities markets for up to 14 years.

It had asked the capital markets watchdog to pass a fresh order in the 14-year-old ruling that came after two separate orders of the Sebi passed in 2018 were challenged by the six applicants.