HC stops proceedings against Narayana Murthy

The Karnataka High Court today quashed proceedings against N R Narayana Murthy, the chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, in a lower court on a complaint over his alleged remarks on the national anthem.

Justice K Bhakthavatsala passed the order on a petition filed by Murthy.

A private complaint was filed by the Karnataka Rakshana Vakeelara Vedike before the second additional city metropolitan magistrate here, which passed the order on May 26 issuing summons to him.

The Vedike had alleged that Murthy had passed insulting remarks about the national anthem during a press conference on April 8 after the then President A P J Abdul Kalam visited the company's Mysore campus.

Murthy's advocate K K Venugopal had contended that his client was not guilty of any offence, and playing the instrumental version did not amount to any violation.