Several social media users have been claiming that Reliance group headed by Anil Ambani has recently decided to withdraw the defamation suit they had filed against Priyanka Chaturvedi while the defamation suits against some Congress leaders still remain without being withdrawn.

Looking back at reports from several news agencies such as Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle, back in August 2018 a defamation suit was filed by Anil Ambani against National Herald and some Congress leaders. This news was virally acclaimed and the case was handled by PJ Tamakuwala. The defamation was filed against National Herald which is Congress owned after an article was published with the headline "Anil Ambani floated Reliance Defence 10 days before Modi announced Rafale deal".

The defamation was filed because according to Ambani’s group the article misleads the general public to believe that undue business favours are being extended to them by the government of the day. Ambani has also been seen to send legal notices to several Congress leaders after their allegations against the company regarding the Rafale deal. The Congress leaders were Sunil Jakhar, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Oommen Chandy, Ashok Chavan, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sanjay Nirupam and Shaktisinh Gohil. Defamation was also reportedly filed against Priyanka Chaturvedi who was then a Congress spokesperson. An article from Scroll details on cases filed on each person, company etc.

Recently, tweets claiming that Ambani had removed the defamation case only against Priyanka Chaturvedi and have attached a message said to be received by Chaturvedi.

A Twitter handle Now+win tweeted, "People are spreading fake news that Ambani withdrew case against Congress but the real news is that they withdrew case against Priyanka Chaturvedi who was once part of Congress."

Another user Sneh Mishra tweeted "Anil Ambani has withdrawn the case from Priyanka Chaturvedi only and not from the Congress party. So now gulams chamcha's still have no good news".

People are sharing the copy of an electronic mail received by Priyanka Chaturvedi to claim that the defamation case against Chaturvedi was removed as she changed to Shiv Sena party.

Copy of e-mail

Defamation suit against all the Congress leaders withdrawn

It is true that the defamation suit against Chaturvedi has been removed by the Ambani group, but the suits against Congress leaders and National Herald newspaper have also been removed. This can be confirmed by reading official reports from The Hindu, Business Today, NDTV etc.

Business Today has reported what a Reliance group spokesperson has informed regarding the situation, "We believe that the defamatory statements by certain individuals and corporate bodies with regard to the offset agreement between Reliance Group and Dassault Aviation were made for political purposes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election 2019 that have concluded on Sunday, 19th May 2019. Besides, the subject matter is pending for adjudication before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Therefore, the Group has decided to withdraw the defamation suits filed by it against these individuals and corporate bodies,".

The same has been reported by the other news agencies. Times of India has also reported confirmation of withdrawal from Pankaj Champaneri who is an advocate representing several Congress leaders. The articles also have received a confirmation with other people involved in the defamation case. 

Times of India has also reported that Chaturvedi has confirmed that the defamation case against her has been removed. Moreover, she has also mentioned that she has received a correspondence mail from the Reliance group about the matter. However, we could not find whether the image attached by tweets which claim to be an e-mail to Chaturvedi is legitimate or not.  

In conclusion, the tweets claiming that only the defamation suit against Priyanka Chaturvedi has been removed is false because the reliance group has withdrawn the defamation suit against all the people and agencies they filed it at.