Businessperson Anil Ambani has filed a defamation suit in the Bombay High Court against Republic TV and its editor Arnab Goswami claiming that the reports on the news channel about his financial transactions caused irreparable damage to his reputation, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.
Justice Milind Jadhav is expected to hear the petition seeking a temporary injunction against ARG Outlier, the company that owns Republic TV, Goswami and other unknown entities on Wednesday.
In his suit, Ambani claimed that he is aggrieved by articles authored and published by the defendants, and circulated through their news channels and social media platforms, Live Law reported.
The allegedly “offending publications and offending statements” claim to report on the regulatory proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Home Finance Limited and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited, the suit was quoted as saying.
The suit added that Republic TV and Goswami were aware that Ambani had ceased to be the non-executive director of Reliance Communications Limited in November 2019 and never held any managerial or operational position in either of the companies, Live Law reported.
“The companies were distinct entities, and the applicant was not involved in the day-to-day management and decision-making operations of the companies,” the legal news portal quoted the suit as saying.
It added: “Despite knowing these facts, the defendants have chosen to maliciously, falsely and irresponsibly impute a libelous/slanderous/damaging personal connection between the allegations under investigation with respect to the companies and the applicant.”
Ambani stated in his suit that the defendants had repeatedly, through their publications, falsely portrayed him as being personally responsible for the alleged financial misconduct, including by using sensationalised headlines, allegedly defamatory commentary and allegedly derogatory insinuations, Live Law reported.
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