20 yrs on, HC admits Rs 100 cr defamation suit against mag
Fortnightly alleged Khar-based agrochem major is owned by Dawood Ibrahim; HC orders mag to get references deleted from search engines.
Twenty years after a magazine published a story alleging that an agrochemical major had underworld connections, the Bombay High Court has admitted a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by the company against the fortnightly.
The case was filed by the Rs 14,000 crore Khar-based agrochemical major United Phosphorous Limited (UPL), against Sunita Narain, the New Delhi based editor of environmental fortnightly ‘Down To Earth’, which had alleged that UPL is owned by Dawood Ibrahim and his brother.
The story dates back to 1995 when Narain, in the New Delhi based Down To Earth, had alleged that UPL is entirely funded by Dawood Ibrahim and his brother from Dubai.
Said Rajju Shroff, 75, CMD of UPL, “We had protested against this to Narain at that time, and in 1996 she issued a clarification in small fonts in a corner of the publication, and we thought all was well.
“However, on January 5, 2015, I suddenly received a letter from the Mexican Embassy, seeking my clarification on the criminal background of my company, which I had started with my hard-earned money. The embassy said that if I did not explain my stand, I could lose a contract worth Rs 5,000 crore in Mexico,” said Shroff, whose company was awarded the President's Gold Seal in 1972 for good entrepreneurship.
The Mexican Embassy too had awarded Shroff with the title of Honorary Consul General of Mexico in 1997, and the letter thus came as a shock to him.
Continued Shroff, “Two days later, on January 7, 2015, I received a similar letter from the Iranian Embassy, which asked me to come clean on the alleged criminal background of my company, or else I would lose a contract worth Rs 2,000 crore. My financial advisor told me that if such queries kept coming from international parties, my company would be forced to shut and I would be ruined.”
Shroff further said, “It then occurred to me that though Narain had issued a clarification in the publication, she had not got the reference to the Dawood Ibrahim connection in her story deleted on the Internet, and it was openly available on all reputed search engines.
“It was affecting my business, so much so that a director of my company, Pradip Madhavji, was ready to quit the board of directors if the allegations were proved right. That was the final blow, and I then decided to approach Bombay HC, which admitted my Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Narain,” Shroff added.
Not received HC papers: Narain
When contacted, Sunita Narain said she has not received any document from HC, and will react only if it is received. “My legal team is working on a reply to HC in this regard,” she said, declining to comment further.
Twenty years after a magazine published a story alleging that an agrochemical major had underworld connections, the Bombay High Court has admitted a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed by the company against the fortnightly.
The case was filed by the Rs 14,000 crore Khar-based agrochemical major United Phosphorous Limited (UPL), against Sunita Narain, the New Delhi based editor of environmental fortnightly ‘Down To Earth’, which had alleged that UPL is owned by Dawood Ibrahim and his brother.
HC has ordered Narain to get the remark and references deleted from various search engines, and asked her to file an affidavit on April 6 in this regard. Due to the alleged slander, UPL claims to have lost many international contracts worth crores.
The story dates back to 1995 when Narain, in the New Delhi based Down To Earth, had alleged that UPL is entirely funded by Dawood Ibrahim and his brother from Dubai.
Said Rajju Shroff, 75, CMD of UPL, “We had protested against this to Narain at that time, and in 1996 she issued a clarification in small fonts in a corner of the publication, and we thought all was well.
“However, on January 5, 2015, I suddenly received a letter from the Mexican Embassy, seeking my clarification on the criminal background of my company, which I had started with my hard-earned money. The embassy said that if I did not explain my stand, I could lose a contract worth Rs 5,000 crore in Mexico,” said Shroff, whose company was awarded the President's Gold Seal in 1972 for good entrepreneurship.
The Mexican Embassy too had awarded Shroff with the title of Honorary Consul General of Mexico in 1997, and the letter thus came as a shock to him.
Continued Shroff, “Two days later, on January 7, 2015, I received a similar letter from the Iranian Embassy, which asked me to come clean on the alleged criminal background of my company, or else I would lose a contract worth Rs 2,000 crore. My financial advisor told me that if such queries kept coming from international parties, my company would be forced to shut and I would be ruined.”
Shroff further said, “It then occurred to me that though Narain had issued a clarification in the publication, she had not got the reference to the Dawood Ibrahim connection in her story deleted on the Internet, and it was openly available on all reputed search engines.
“It was affecting my business, so much so that a director of my company, Pradip Madhavji, was ready to quit the board of directors if the allegations were proved right. That was the final blow, and I then decided to approach Bombay HC, which admitted my Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Narain,” Shroff added.
Not received HC papers: Narain
When contacted, Sunita Narain said she has not received any document from HC, and will react only if it is received. “My legal team is working on a reply to HC in this regard,” she said, declining to comment further.
