Mahesh Murthy's defamation suit over sexual misconduct allegations dismissed by Delhi High Court on account of non-prosecution

The Delhi High Court disposed of a defamation suit filed by venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy against a bunch of entrepreneurs, media houses and others who reported and published allegations of sexual misconduct against him [Mahesh Murthy v Pooja Chauhan & Ors]..In her order, Justice Mini Pushkarna noted that Murthy was no longer interested in pursuing the matter since no one had appeared on Murthy’s behalf on the last two dates and his counsel, dealing with an appeal in the matter before the division bench, had also stated that he had no instructions.“In view of the submissions made before me and also in view of the fact that no one has appeared for the plaintiff today and there was no appearance on the last date also and that the counsel appearing for the plaintiff in the appellate Court had made a categorical statement that no instructions had been received from his client, the present suit is dismissed in default and on account of non-prosecution,” the Court said in its order..Justice Pushkarna also observed that it seemed Murthy was not interested in pursuing his suit since the passing of the July 2020 order when the gag order in his favour was vacated..Murthy had moved the Delhi High Court in 2017 following a post on LinkedIn by entrepreneur Pooja Chauhan.Chauhan wrote about an inappropriate response given by Murthy on WhatsApp to a Christmas greeting. The post, which included a WhatsApp screenshot, was widely circulated on social media.Days later, a post was published on the website indianceo.in, wherein Murthy was alleged to have misbehaved during communication on WhatsApp with another entrepreneur.This led to further publications on Murthy's alleged misbehaviour on various media platforms including yourstory.com, Asian Age and the Deccan Chronicle. Another account of sexual misconduct was also published on factordaily.com.The High Court passed two gag orders in favour of Murthy in April 2017. However, the orders were vacated in July 2020.No one appeared for Murthy in the matter.Defendants were represented through advocates Gautam Dhamija, Ritik Raghuwanshi, Mayank Mikhail Mukherjee, Abhimanyu Walia, Karambir Singh, Aayush Agarwala and Siddham Nahata..[Read Order].Delhi HC vacates interim injunction orders granted to Mahesh Murthy in defamation suit over sexual misconduct allegations