In a never-ending family saga, ADAG chairman Anil Ambani has dragged elder brother Mukesh Ambani to the Mumbai High Court in a Rs10,000-crore defamation suit and an apology for defaming him in an interview to the New York Times.

Filing a 19-page suit against Mukesh, NYT reporter Anand Giridharadas, public editor Clark Hoyt and chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger among others, Anil has demanded damages of Rs10,000 crore for defamation, a retraction and a clear apology from Mukesh Ambani.

In the interview which the NYT published on 15 June 2008, Mukesh alleged that the main difference between Reliance and its rivals was the intelligence agency, which comprised a network of spies based in New Delhi gathered data on the weaknesses of politicians, detailed schedules of senior bureaucrats and also their competitor's activities.

The suit adds that during the course of the interview, Mukesh said that these activities were monitored by brother Anil before their separation and has since been "demerged" from his company.

Describing the remarks in the interview as "malicious," Anil has alleged that defendants were part of a concerted conspiracy with "intent to cause damage" to his reputation.
Two Indian newspapers who republished the article have also been named as defendants in a petition filed at the Bombay High Court

Shortly after the passing away of their father in 2002, Anil and Mukesh began to drift apart and in 2005 decided to go their respective ways, with the demerger of Reliance taking place in 2006. They have been constantly at loggerheads there after.

Their mother, Kokilaben had to play judge and brokered a farcical truce by carving the industrial out the telecommunications, energy and financial businesses from the Reliance group for younger son Anil, with Mukesh retaining the rest - essentially the large petrochemicals, oil and gas and textile businesses.

Mukesh had put a spoke in the wheel when Anil's planned to merge his company Reliance Communication with South African mobile service provider, MTN, in a deal that would fostered him to the top in the cellular business. MTN withdrew after Mukesh filed a suit in the court claiming his company Reliance Industries had the right of first refusal on Reliance Communication shares.

Subsequently Anil took the resource of the court when he claimed that Mukesh had reneged on the family agreement brokered by their mother on the supply 28 million cubic metres per day of gas from Mukesh controlled Reliance Industries' eastern offshore fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin to Anil's power plant company-RNRL.

The government has intervened in the legal battle by asking the court to lift the stay and ensure the smooth flow of gas as it is in the nation's interest.