Anil withdraws defamation suit against Mukesh in HC

Industrialist Anil Ambani, today, withdrew a Rs 10,000 crore defamation suit against elder brother Mukesh Ambani in the Bombay High Court, signalling a further thaw in their relationship. "Yes, we have withdrawn the suit claiming Rs 10,000 crore as damages", a Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group spokesman told PTI. Anil had dragged his brother to court, alleging that Mukesh had defamed him in an interview to New York Times that was reproduced in two leading Indian newspapers (in June 2008). The two newspaper had also been made respondents in the suit. The withdrawal of the suit comes weeks after the brothers decided to scrap a non-compete agreement between their group companies and pledged to expeditiously renegotiate a gas supply agreement on the lines of the Supreme Court verdict of May 7. The Ambanis had parted ways in June 2005, and out of four of the last five years they have been engaged in a legal row over supply of gas from Mukesh-run RIL to Anil Ambani group's RNRL. A spokesperson for Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries declined to comment.