Court admits Tata trustee’s defamation case against Mistry
The Mumbai magistrate court on Tuesday admitted a ₹500crore criminal defamation suit, filed by R Venkataramanan, a trustee at Tata Trusts, against ousted Tata Sons Ltd chairman Cyrus Mistry and his family investment firms.
Mistry and the firms—Cyrus Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt Ltd—will have to face trial on charges of criminal defamation under sections 499, 500 and 501 of the Indian Penal Code and appear before the court on August 24.
Venkatramanan filed the defamation complaint in his personal capacity on June 7 through the law firm MZM Legal, citing allegations that Mistry made against him in an e-mail he wrote to Tata Sons directors and Tata Trusts trustees on October 25.
The allegations pertained to some transactions at AirAsia India, Tata Sons’s joint venture with AirAsia Bhd.
Mistry was sacked by Tata Sons in a boardroom coup on October 24, following which he wrote the email that contained the allegations against Venkataramanan and others at Tata Sons, the Tata group holding company, and Tata Trusts.
According to Venkataramanan’s complaint, the email, which found its way to the media, caused “irreparable” damage to his reputation among colleagues, family, friends and society.
The complaint said Mistry had also made “false and derogatory” allegations against Venkataramanan in filings with the company law tribunal in Mumbai.
In his petition, Venkatramanan pleaded that Mistry, Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investments be directed to cease and desist from circulating and/or publishing any defamatory, derogatory, malicious comments or statements, articles and posts through any medium either directly or indirectly against him.
He also demanded that Mistry and his firms be directed to immediately withdraw the statements and posts published till date.
Following his removal, Mistry and his family companies challenged his ouster at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
On April 17, NCLT dismissed the main petition filed by Mistry and his family firms alleging mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholders.
Subsequently, the Mistry family firms moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the decision.
“The move by the Tata Trustees to attempt to muzzle and interfere with legal proceedings faced by them, now before the NCLAT, will be effectively dealt with,” the office of Cyrus Mistry said in a statement.
“We believe in the nation’s legal system and know such subversion of justice systems will meet its fate.”