Ankiti Bose secures court order against defamation in ongoing Zilingo dispute

A Delhi court has issued an ex parte injunction in favour of Ankiti Bose, former CEO of Zilingo, temporarily halting the publication of defamatory content against her. The court order is in response to a digital publication being challeneged for publishing information about her. The publication was the defendant in this case. This legal intervention emerges amidst an ongoing dispute revolving around allegations of misconduct involving the company's co-founders.

The court has prohibited the defendants from disseminating any defamatory or inaccurate information about Bose on any platform until the next hearing.

This follows her filing of a First Information Report (FIR) against Zilingo's co-founder Dhruv Kapoor and former Chief Operating Officer (COO) Aadi Vaidya. In her complaint, Bose accuses both individuals of serious offenses, including cheating, fraud, criminal intimidation, and sexual and mental harassment.


Detailing the allegations in a six-page complaint, Bose asserts that Kapoor and Vaidya engaged in deceptive practices, allegedly withholding crucial company-related data and information. She contends that their actions aimed to deceive both her and the company's investors, ultimately leading to her ousting from the business.

Responding to the allegations, Kapoor dismissed Bose's claims as "completely baseless, untrue and malicious," attributing her termination to proven wrongdoing. Similarly, Vaidya refuted the accusations as "completely baseless and untrue," denouncing them as retaliatory and malicious.

The FIR also accused Vaidya of misconduct, alleging his involvement in fraudulent activities aimed at acquiring Bose's shares. Bose contends that operational dealings conducted by Vaidya in her previous company were falsely attributed to her, leading to her wrongful termination.

Following alleged discrepancies in Zilingo's accounting, Bose was suspended as CEO in April 2022, and subsequently resigned from directorships at holding company Zilingo Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries in June that year. Bose cited "opacity of information" regarding her roles as a board member and shareholder as the reason for her decision.

In response to the harassment charges, Zilingo commissioned Deloitte in May 2022 to conduct an investigation. Bose, previously associated with Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners), refuted allegations of accounting discrepancies and contested her suspension, characterizing the company's actions as a "witch hunt."