Rs 500 crore defamation suit against Cyrus Mistry

Mumbai: A Metropolitan magistrate court on Tuesday admitted a criminal defamation complaint filed by Venkataramanan Ramachandran, the managing trustee of Tata Trusts, against former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, his brother Shapoor Mistry and their firms, seeking Rs 500 crore in damages and an unconditional apology.

Venkataramanan, also known as Venkat, has accused the ousted Tata Sons chairman and others of making false statements against him, damaging his reputation.

The court on Tuesday asked Mistry and other directors to be present in the court on August 24.

Mr Mistry's office issued a statement with regards to the defamation suit which said: "Subversion of courts will fail. Won't be muzzled." It further added, "The attempt to initiate criminal prosecution for alleged defamation is an ill-advised and immature proxy battle through Mr Venkataraman whose role in Air Asia is subject matter of several investigations by law enforcement agencies. 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 and appropriately dealt with”.

Mr Mistry had alleged about "certain fraudulent transactions of `22 crore involving non-existent parties in Indian and Singapore at Air Asia India and had stated that Venkat considered these transactions as "non-material" and "didn't encourage any further study" of it.

According to the complaint the e-mail, which then found its way to the media, has caused "irreparable" damages to his reputation among his colleagues, family, friends and society.

Advocate Parvez Memon on behalf of Mr Venkat had said that Mr Mistry made irresponsible insinuations, which were all false and baseless.