CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday declined to stay the trial of the "Lexus car import case" in which N. Sasikala's husband, M. Natarajan, and her nephew Bhaskaran, along with three others, are the accused.

The trial is going on in the Principal Special Court for CBI Cases here. Justice S. Sardar Zackria Hussain, dismissing the stay petition filed by Mr. Natarajan, said it was not a fit case for grant of stay as the Supreme Court has ruled against staying the proceedings of cases filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"The Supreme Court has laid down a dictum, with regard to grant of stay in respect of criminal cases arising under the Prevention of Corruption Act, that stay in such cases shall not be granted if the revision petition is filed before the High Court," the Judge observed.

The CBI registered the case against Mr. Natarajan, Mr. Bhaskaran, Sucharita, Yogesh Balakrishnan and Balakrishnan, for importing a Toyota Lexus from the U.K. and declaring it as a used vehicle. The agency alleged that by declaring the new car as an old one, and preparing/falsifying documents to support the claim, the accused circumvented the Customs rules and caused a loss to the tune of several lakhs.

Meanwhile, Mr. Natarajan, aggrieved by the dismissal of his discharge petition, moved a revision petition in the High Court. Admitting the plea, the court posted the matter after summer vacation for further hearing. He then moved the Supreme Court for an expeditious disposal of his petition. The apex court asked the High Court to dispose of his main revision petition by August 30, and gave liberty to him to move the vacation court for an appropriate interim relief. Hence the present stay petition.

CBI counsel Chandrasekaran submitted that the trial court had already examined nine of the 19 witnesses.

A total of 60 documents had also been marked. Agreeing with the submission, Mr. Justice Hussain said though copies of prosecution documents had been made available to Mr. Natarajan in March last, he had filed the petition only on April 18, 2005.

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