High court stays proceedings against Chikkarayappa

The High Court of Karnataka on Friday stayed the proceedings against T N Chikkarayappa, the suspended managing director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama, in the disproportionate assets case.

During the hearing of a petition filed by Chikkarayappa seeking to quash proceedings initiated by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)  against him, the former’s counsel claimed that the ACB does not have the status of a police station and hence cannot take up an investigation.

B N Jagadish, the counsel for the ACB, argued that the investigation was already under way and granting a stay would hamper the probe. He said that Chikkarayappa was part of an illegal currency exchange from which whopping Rs 5 crore had been seized. The ACB registered a case against Chikkarayappa for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, following the raids on his house by the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Justice Anand Byrareddy asked the ACB counsel to submit material to establish that the ACB had been granted the police station status and stayed the proceedings against Chikkarayappa. Justice Byrareddy has stayed a batch of petitions challenging the police station status to ACB.