A Mumbai court has issued summons against industrialist Mukesh Ambani, his brother Anil Ambani and seven others following a complaint by a local resident alleging that he was getting Reliance cellphone bills although he was not a subscriber.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D A Joshi issued the summons on August 19 on the complaint filed by Dinesh Kotecha and asked the respondents to appear in person within 90 days as a prima facie case was made out against them.
Kotecha's lawyer Niranjan Lapsia submitted that his client had received the first bill for the month of December 2003 following which he registered a criminal complaint with V P Road police station against Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Industries and Reliance Communication and Infrastructure Ltd.
Kotecha, however, kept receiving bills for the next five months and so he registered another complaint but there was no action.
On June 7 this year, Kotecha alleged that he was threatened by two persons who asked him not to lodge complaints and pay the dues.
Kotecha then issued a legal notice to Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries; Anil Ambani, vice chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries; Vinod Ambani, company secretary, Dilip Derai, executive director, Reliance Infocomm; and Satyapal Jain, chairman, Reliance Infocomm.
The notice was posted by the registry on June 9 but there was no reply and further bills kept coming following which Kotecha filed the complaint before additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Girgaum court.
The court took cognizance of the complaint on August 19 and issued summons against the persons named in the complaint under Section 384 read with 34 IPC.