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5
July 2017
A court
here has initiated process against industrialists Cyrus P. Mistry, Shapoor
Mistry and others in a Rs 500 crore criminal defamation complaint lodged last
month by Tata Trusts' Managing Trustee R. Venkataramanan, an official said on
Tuesday. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
The
process was initiated by Metropolitan Magistrate K.G. Paldewar and accordingly,
Mistry, the ousted Chairman of Tata Sons, and other directors of Cyrus
Investments Pvt Ltd and Sterling Investments Pvt Ltd, will be tried for
criminal defamation. The Total
Investment & Insurance Solutions
They
will have to appear before the court and execute bail bonds, said the official.
Later,
the charges would be framed against the accused under sections dealing with
criminal defamation and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code.
The
court has posted the matter for further hearing on August 24 and directed the
accused to appear before it for bail. The
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Venkataramanan
has accused Mistry and others of making false and defamatory statements against
him and thus damaging his reputation. The
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At the
hearings, the court upheld the arguments of Venkataramanan's counsel Parvez
Memon that the Constitution's Article 21 protecting a citizen's right to life
is inclusive of the right to live with dignity and that all are equal in the
eyes of the law under it. The Total
Investment & Insurance Solutions
Memon
argued that while Mistry is a man with substantial wealth and might, the value
of Venkataramanan's dignity is much more, and the accused cannot be let loose
with impuity for his reckless and irresponsible insinuations which were all
false and baseless.
"All
such allegations were hurled irresponsibly against Venkataramanan, Ratan Tata,
Tata Sons and others only after his unceremonious ouster from Tata Sons. Why
was he otherwise silent for his entire tenure, not to speak about several of
his own wrongdoings against which Tata Sons may have its own cause of action,"
he told the court. The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
The
court was apprised of the defamatory insinuations in Mistry's letter of October
25, 2016, following the petition filed in the National Company Law Tribunal
through his brother and his companies, in which he is a director and 50 percent
shareholder, and strategically made respondent No. 11.
The
email letter, written a day after Mistry was removed as the Tata Sons Chairman,
alleged "certain fraudulent transactions of Rs 22 crore" involving
some parties in India and Singapore, at AirAsia India, which is owned in part
by the Tatas. The Total Investment
& Insurance Solutions
It was
alleged that Venkataramanan considered these as non-material and didn't
encourage any further study and also hinted at some foreign bank accounts. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
Counsel
argued that Mistry further exaggerated the baseless insinuations through his
affidavit in reply, supporting the original allegations in the petition before
NCLT, Mumbai, which was subsequently dismissed. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Now,
the matter has come up before the NCLT Appellate Tribunal in New Delhi where
the hearing has begun on Monday. The
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Memon
cited several case laws of the Supreme Court and high courts to substantiate
issuance of the process by the magistrate. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
On its
part, the office of Cyrus Mistry said: "The attempt to initiate criminal
prosecution for alleged defamation is an ill-advised and immature proxy battle
through Venkataraman, whose role in AirAsia 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."
The New
Delhi-based NCLAT will continue to hear arguments in the case till July 7,
2017.
On
October 24 last year, Tata Sons' Board ousted Mistry as its Chairman and
appointed Ratan Tata as the interim Chairman.The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
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