The petitioner claimed that email sent by Mistry on October 25, 2016, to Tata Sons directors and trustees of Tata Trusts contained "defamatory statements" about him
A magisterial court in Mumbai has admitted a Rs 500 crore defamation petition against former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry and issued summons against him.
Additional chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Tuesday issued summons against Mistry, director of Cyrus Investment Private Ltd and Sterling Investment, Shapoorji Mistry and three others in a criminal defamation case filed against them by managing trustee of Tata Trusts, R Venkataramanan.
Advocate Parvez Memon of MZM Legal appearing for Venkataramanan said the summons have been issued and the alleged accused have been asked to remain present before the court on August 24. The process was issued against them while hearing the criminal defamation case. Memon said as per their plaint, Mistry had allegedly made false statements against his client in an email.
The petitioner has sought Rs 500 crore in damages through the complaint. The petitioner claimed that email sent by Mistry on October 25, 2016, to Tata Sons directors and trustees of Tata Trusts contained "defamatory statements" about him. This he claimed caused "irreparable" damages to his reputation among his colleagues, family, friends and society.
Earlier, Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investment, which hold 18.5% stake in Tata Sons, had moved the Mumbai tribunal against the oppression of minority shareholders and mismanagement of Tata companies. The tribunal had dismissed the petition citing that the investment firms have insufficient shareholding to seek a legal recourse. It had also declined to grant a waiver on the maintainability of the petition.
On October 24, last year, Mistry was unceremoniously removed as the chairman of holding company Tata Sons, after which his predecessor Ratan Tata took over as the interim chairman. Since then, both Mistry and Tata have been in a relentless war of words.
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