Ankiti Bose Sues Mahesh Murthy for $100 Million Over Defamation Claims
- ByStartupStory | April 22, 2023
Ankiti Bose, the former CEO and co-founder of Singapore-based fashion e-commerce startup Zilingo, has reportedly filed a $100 million (INR 820 crore) defamation lawsuit against Mahesh Murthy, a prominent angel investor and co-founder of Seedfund. The lawsuit stems from an article written by Murthy in the March 1 issue of Outlook Business magazine, with sources stating that Bose has taken legal action through the law firm Singhania and Co LLP, alleging that Murthy’s article is a “continuation of a three-year-old vendetta” against her. The lawsuit has been filed in the Bombay High Court.
The defamation case filed by Ankiti Bose against Mahesh Murthy is currently in the pre-admission stage, having been filed on April 20. Inc42 has obtained the case filing number from the court website, which identifies Bose as the petitioner. Murthy’s article did not mention Bose by name, but referred to “one lady” who allegedly received funds from Sequoia for her fashion portal and directed a significant portion of legal fees and public relations expenses to herself. In response, Bose stated that the article contains “falsehoods, misrepresentations, and malicious allegations.”
Inc42 has reached out to Mahesh Murthy for his response to the ongoing legal dispute. As soon as the Seedfund cofounder provides his comment, the article will be updated. In April 2022, Ankiti Bose was suspended from her position as CEO of Zilingo due to allegations of impropriety raised by anonymous whistleblowers. Further reports indicated that tensions existed between Zilingo’s co-founders, Bose and Dhruv Kapoor, regarding business decisions.
Ankiti Bose accused the Zilingo board and Sequoia Capital India of attempting to remove her from the company following her suspension, but she has not provided any evidence to support these claims. The company’s financial situation had already deteriorated by the time disagreements between Bose and shareholders erupted over control of the situation. Despite their efforts, Zilingo went into liquidation in January 2023. Over the past several months, Inc42 has uncovered additional information regarding the company’s troubling financial reporting, including $10 million in unexplained payments allegedly involving Bose. For a detailed analysis of the Zilingo case a year after the controversy, see our latest investigative report.
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