Ex-Zilingo CEO files $100 mn lawsuit against investor Murthy

New Delhi: Singapore-based startup Zilingo's former CEO, Ankiti Bose, who was sacked over alleged financial irregularities last year, has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Mahesh Murthy, angel investor and co-founder of Seedfund, the media reported.

According to leading startup news portal Inc42, the lawsuit has been filed in the Bombay High Court on April 20 over an article authored by Murthy in a top business magazine. Murthy didn't name Bose in the article but wrote several descriptive pointers. The article mentioned "one lady" who "ran a popular fashion portal and took Sequoia's money".

"She got her firm to pay her lawyer some Rs 70 crore as fees and - it is rumoured - got a lot of that amount directly back to herself as her cut," Murthy alleged in his article. Bose was quoted as saying that the $100 million lawsuit was filed taking into account her balance of equity in Zilingo and "the losses that statements like this can affect future endeavours." The lawsuit is currently in the pre-admission stage, according to reports.

In March last year, Zilingo suspended 30-year-old CEO Bose over complaints about alleged financial irregularities. Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm, the startup decided to terminate Bose's employment. In April last year, she brought to the board's attention certain harassment-related issues pertaining to past time periods, which did not include any harassment complaints against investors or their nominees.

A top consulting firm was then appointed to look into the claims of harassment brought to the Board's notice by Ankiti. According to Zilingo, the investigation concluded that the company took appropriate action and followed due process to address these complaints that were brought to their notice, "contrary to media reports that have suggested that the suspension and investigations into Bose were aimed at suppressing the said harassment claims". The startup had raised more than $300 million from top investors, including Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia Capital India.