Anil Ambani takes Republic TV & Arnab Goswami to High Court over 'Scam Mastermind' Label

Industrialist Anil Ambani has filed a defamation suit in the Bombay High Court against Republic TV and its editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, seeking an urgent injunction to halt coverage he claims has systematically destroyed his reputation by falsely branding him a financial criminal, with the matter scheduled for hearing before Justice Milind Jadhav on April 1.

At the heart of the dispute is Republic TV's ongoing coverage of Enforcement Directorate proceedings against three Reliance Group entities, Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Home Finance Limited, and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited. Ambani argues that despite the channel's full awareness that he had stepped down as Non-Executive Director of RCOM in November 2019 and had never held any executive, managerial, or operational role in any of the implicated companies, Republic TV and Goswami deliberately and repeatedly drew a personal connection between him and the alleged financial misconduct under investigation.

The companies, he maintains, were legally distinct entities whose day-to-day affairs he had no hand in running, a fact he contends the defendants knowingly ignored in pursuit of sensational coverage.

The suit alleges that Republic TV weaponised its platform through inflammatory headlines and derogatory commentary, attaching labels such as "financial scam mastermind, cheat, money launderer, and fraud" directly to Ambani's name and person. The Court filing states that these imputations "created a false perception of guilt and exposed the Applicant to public hatred, ridicule, and contempt, causing grave and irreparable injury to his reputation, dignity, professional standing and goodwill." 

Ambani characterises the conduct as malicious, reckless, and legally untenable, and is pressing the Court for relief covering both monetary damages and injunctive protection against further publication.