Order on bail plea in note conversion case reserved

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday reserved its order on the anticipatory bail petition filed by T N Chikkarayappa, the suspended managing director of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama.

Chikkarayappa has been accused in the currency conversion racket and is under the net of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI. The I-T department and ACB, during their raid, found around Rs 3 lakh in new currency in Chikkarayappa’s house. It is alleged that Chikkarayappa had sought  bribe to sanction a plan for a building and had demanded Rs 3,84,000.

The high court had granted relief by directing ACB not to arrest him as Chikkarayappa was ready to cooperate in the investigation. During the hearing of his anticipatory bail and the petition filed by him seeking directions to quash the ACB proceedings against him, Justice P S Dinesh Kumar reserved the orders in the bail petition. 

With regard to the petition seeking quashing of the proceedings on the grounds that the ACB does not have the police station powers, the stay which was granted on the ACB proceedings was vacated. ACB’s counsel B N Jagadeesh had submitted to the court that Chikkarayappa was giving correct details when the ACB police were questioning him. The petitioner’s counsel sought time to withdraw the petition after the pronouncement of the order in the bail petition.