The Delhi High Court recently directed two journalists and media company Nine Network Private Limited to ensure that principles of fair comment and reporting are adhered to when reporting about real estate company BPTP Limited [BPTP Limited vs Nitin Naresh and Ors].
However, at this stage Justice Mini Pushkarna refused to grant an injunction against the journalists and Inventiva, a website run by Nine Network and covering business and finance related topics.
“In case, defendant no. 1 writes any other article in respect of any future incident or occurrence qua the plaintiff or MD of the plaintiff, defendant no. 1 shall ensure that the same is in the nature of fair comment and fair reporting,” the Court directed in its order passed on April 7.
The Court also sought the response of the two defendants - journalist Nitin Naresh and employee Priyanka Chakraborty associated with Inventiva.
The Court was hearing a suit by BPTP Limited seeking takedown of articles published about it on Inventiva.
BPTP submitted that between July 2025 and March 2026, sixteen false and defamatory articles were published regarding BPTP.
BPTP alleged that these publications were false, malicious and aimed at extorting money from it.
It alleged that journalist Nitin Naresh, who is also a director of Nine Network company, sent emails to BPTP officials demanding payments under the guise of legal services.
BPTP lodged a police complaint in this regard in August 2025.
Further, BPTP alleged that Naresh met BPTP's representatives at the police station and demanded money to comply with the request to withdraw the articles and make no further publication.
In its plea, BPTP highlighted articles titled, ‘Kabul Chawla: The BPTP Owner Who Scammed India's Real Estate Stakeholders and Enjoys His Vacation from Justice’ and ‘ED Raids BPTP Offices Across Delhi-NCR In Alleged 500 Crore FEMA Violation’.
Another flagged article was ‘BPTP Most Controversial Real Estate Company Gears Up For IPO, Targets Ambitious Rs 10,000 Crore Annual Revenue. Should SEBI Allow Such Companies To List Their IPO?’.
BPTP contended that it is vying for a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) and such “sustained campaign” through defamatory publications would adversely affect the same.
“It is also noteworthy to mention here that the Defendants have the same modus operandi. Whenever a Company is nearing an IPO, such news articles are published by the Defendants to gain money from such companies,” BPTP submitted.
Naresh, who appeared in person, undertook that the articles in question, which have been published on the website of Inventiva, shall not be put or disseminated on any other social media platform.
The Court recorded the submission by Naresh and did not pass any interim injunction with respect to the articles flagged by BPTP.
However, it asked Naresh to ensure adherence to fair reporting if any other article is published.
The Court also asked the defendants to file their responses within four weeks.
The matter will be heard next on July 7.
Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta with advocates Aseem Chaturvedi and Milind Jain appeared for BPTP Limited.
Defendant Nitin Naresh appeared in person along with advocates Shahil Rao, Komal Jain, Irshita Gupta, Damini Yadav, Rahul Yadav.
[Read Order]