Anil Ambani Withdraws Defamation Suit Against Cobrapost After Court Denies Interim Relief In ₹41,000-Crore Allegations Row

A Delhi court has permitted Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani to withdraw a civil defamation suit filed against investigative portal Cobrapost, The Economic Times, and other media organisations over reportage alleging large-scale financial improprieties involving Reliance Group companies amounting to over ₹41,000 crore.

Senior Civil Judge Vivek Beniwal of the Karkardooma Courts disposed of the suit after recording that instructions to withdraw the proceedings had been received from the plaintiff. The court granted liberty to Anil Ambani to institute a fresh action on the same cause of action, in accordance with settled principles of civil procedure, and noted that a formal statement to this effect had been placed on record.

The withdrawal followed an earlier order dated November 17, 2025, in which the trial court declined to grant an ex parte ad interim injunction restraining the media entities from publishing or circulating the impugned material. The court had emphasised that prior restraint on publication could not be imposed without first giving the defendants an opportunity to be heard, particularly in cases involving press freedom and public interest journalism.

Judge Beniwal observed that, in the absence of a prima facie examination of the factual matrix after hearing both sides, it would be impermissible to conclude that the reports in question were unverified, inaccurate, malicious, or irresponsible. He further noted that directing the removal of material from the public domain at a preliminary stage would be premature and could amount to an unwarranted infringement of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The defamation suit, instituted under the law of torts and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, named Cobrapost.com, Live Media and Publishers Private Limited, Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, and John Doe entities representing unidentified persons allegedly involved in the dissemination of the disputed content. The plaintiff had contended that the publications were defamatory and caused grave injury to reputation.

The controversy stems from investigative reports published by Cobrapost alleging fraudulent conduct by companies associated with the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group, which were strongly denied by the group as false and reputation-damaging.

Cobrapost had earlier held a press conference on October 30 at the Press Club of India in New Delhi, where it claimed to have uncovered a massive banking fraud of ₹28,874 crore allegedly committed by the Anil Ambani-owned ADA Group, apart from other purportedly illegal transactions. Cobrapost founder and editor Aniruddha Bahal alleged that funds were diverted from six group companies through loans to subsidiaries or shell entities that were later dissolved, following which the loans were written off.

The companies named in the allegations were Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., Reliance Capital Ltd., Reliance Communications Ltd., Reliance Home Finance Ltd., Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd., and Reliance Corporate Advisory Services Ltd.

In a separate set of allegations, Cobrapost claimed that Reliance Infrastructure, along with Reliance Capital, Reliance Home Finance, and Reliance Commercial Finance, diverted ₹14,529.18 crore to offshore and Indian entities. These funds were allegedly funnelled back to ADA Group promoter companies through Edico Ventures, a promoter-group entity.

The Reliance ADA Group, in a statement, categorically denied all allegations, describing them as a malicious campaign aimed at damaging the group’s reputation and harming its stakeholders. “It is a malicious campaign aimed at crashing stock prices and engineering panic in stock markets to acquire Reliance Group assets. It is a recycling of old publicly available information already examined by the CBI, ED, SEBI, and other agencies, and an organised attempt to prejudice a fair trial,” the statement said.

Responding to the press conference, the group further asserted that there were no new facts or revelations in the material being disseminated. It described Cobrapost’s exposé as a regurgitation of publicly available information that was misrepresented, distorted, and taken out of context. The group also noted that several matters were sub judice and pending before competent judicial forums, warning that public commentary could amount to contempt of court and interfere with the right to a fair trial.

Additionally, the ADA Group alleged that “some individuals claiming association with Cobrapost have approached the Group’s well-wishers, suggesting that the matter could be settled through means that raise serious ethical and legal questions.”