Cyrus Mistry camp on Friday said it is not ‘intimidated’ by the ₹500 crore defamation suit filed by Managing Trustee of Tata Trusts R Venkataraman.
“It is rather odd that a poor tactic like criminal defamation to muzzle litigation has been advised and adopted. We are not intimidated by these tactics ahead of the NCLAT hearing," Cyrus Mistry's office said in a statement.
“”hese coercive actions only strengthen our resolve to do the right thing in the long term interest of the Tata Group," the statement added.
On Thursday, Venkataraman had filed a criminal defamation suit against ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry for allegedly making false statements.
The suit comes ahead of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) hearing on July 3. In the suit filed before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai, Venkataraman accused Mistry's October 25, 2016, e-mail to Tata Sons directors and trustees of containing “defamatory statements" about him.
In May, the NCLAT had decided to simultaneously hear two cases filed by the family firms of Cyrus Mistry.
Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investments moved the NCLAT in April after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) dismissed the petitions stating that they were not “maintainable”.