New Delhi: Singapore-based fashion tech firm Zilingo’s co-founder Ankiti Bose has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against investor Mahesh Murthy for accusing her of taking money from a startup illegally.
Bose has accused Murthy of falsely casting aspersions on her in an article, From Vulture Capital to Victim Capital : Mahesh Murthy’s Take on VCs in India, published in the Outlook Business magazine on 1 March. Bose claimed the article has caused damage to her “name, reputation and standing, and image". Along with the ₹820 crore in damages, she has sought an apology from Murthy.
“The plaintiff (Bose) states and submits that the defamatory and untrue claims of the defendant caused damages to the name, reputation, standing and image of the plaintiff in the eyes of the public. However, for the purpose of the present suit, the plaintiff computes the damage at ₹820 crore," according to the filing on 20 April before the Bombay high court.
Murthy did not respond to multiple emails, phone calls and messages on Friday.
Once a promising startup, with aspirations of becoming a unicorn, Zilingo entered into liquidation this January after failing to recover from the suspension of CEO Bose in March 2020, following an investigation into financial irregularities at the company, and her subsequent ouster.
Murthy didn’t name Bose in the article but offered various descriptive pointers. Referring to founders who took money illegally out of their startups, it mentioned “one lady" who “ran a popular fashion portal and took Sequoia’s money".
“She got her firm to pay her lawyer some ₹70 crore as fees and—it is rumoured—got a lot of that amount directly back to herself as her cut," Murthy alleged.
When contacted, Bose said the description in the article was far too specific about her and couldn’t have meant anyone else.
She said Murthy also didn’t respond to legal notices sent to him through various channels to apologize and take down the content, which prompted her to file a legal case.
“The fact is there was no evidence presented to me; there was no report presented to me. There were just a lot of media statements and a lot of unnamed sources saying things, but nobody (else) saying anything directly on record," she said.
Zilingo’s Bose sues Mahesh Murthy for ‘defamatory’ article | Mint - Mint
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