ITC slaps Rs 100 crore defamation lawsuit against blogger Manu Rishi Guptha

ITC Limited has filed a Rs 100 crore defamation lawsuit against blogger and portfolio manager Manu Rishi Guptha in the Calcutta High Court, CNBC TV 18 reported on July 13. The action was taken against Guptha for a "mischievous" blog posted against the top management of ITC.

Along with Guptha, the lawsuit has also named Dhruv Girdhar and Ghanist Nagpal, the respective Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor of financial blogsite FinMedium, as co-defendants. The portal had carried the controversial blog written by Guptha against ITC.

The blog, titled "Magic, illusion or just trickery - The story of ITC" was first posted on Guptha's personal blog site, and was later reproduced on the FinMedium site.

Guptha, CEO of SEBI-registered investment advisory firm MRG Capital Partners, had criticised ITC management through his blog for alleged irregularities by the management and board of directors, the CNBC TV 18 report said.

ITC claimed that its management has suffered from distress, anguish and embarrassment due to the alleged defamatory blog.

Also Read | ITC rolls out potato biscuits to compete with popular Bangladeshi brand

The Kolkata-headquartered company noted in its petition that Guptha had, earlier as well, posted a similar blog with the title -  "10 blunders - 1 arrogant company - millions of shareholders suffering" - to target the ITC top brass. The company said it had then chosen to ignore the blog after considering it as a "single errant instance".

ITC noted before the court that Guptha's blog was aimed at damaging the company's reputation. It has, as an alternative, pleaded the court to direct an enquiry into the loss and damages suffered by the company due to the post, the CNBC TV 18 report claimed.