Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed the proceedings initiated by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) against A.K. Ravi Nedungadi, UB Group’s Chief Financial Officer, and A. Harish Bhat, Treasurer and Director of United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd. and three others, who were among the 14 individuals, including Vijay Mallya, accused of committing fraud in the process of merger of Deccan Aviation Ltd. with the Kingfisher Airlines Ltd (KAL).

The court also stayed proceedings against A. Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of KAL, and Bharath Veeraraghavan, who was the company secretary of KAL, and Darshana Kadakia, a chartered accountant.

Justice K.N. Phaneendra passed the interim order on the petitions filed by Messrs Nedungadi, Bhat, Raghunathan and Veeraraghavan, and Ms. Kadakia.

The petitioners have questioned the December 28, 2017 order of the Special Court, constituted under the Companies Act, 2013, which had issued arrest warrants against 14 individuals, including the petitioners after taking cognizance of complaint filed by the SFIO based on its investigation report.

The High Court on January 24 had stayed the proceedings against a few other accused, including Capt. G.R. Gopinath, former head of Deccan Aviation Ltd. in the same case.