On Tuesday, finance news portal Moneylife lodged an appeal in a Delhi court, contesting a trial court’s directive to remove and de-index reports and videos concerning Manoj Kesarichand Sandesara, his family, and the Sterling Biotech bank fraud case [Moneywise Vs Manoj Kesarichand Sandesara]. The case was brought before District Judge Sunil Choudhary at the Tis Hazari Courts, where an undertaking from Sandesara was recorded, stating he would not pursue any further takedown requests. A hearing is set for July 14.
The appeal challenges a May 16 order from a senior civil judge in a lawsuit initiated by Sandesara against Google LLC and others. This order bars Moneylife from disseminating any content related to Sandesara and his family’s association with Sterling Biotech Limited and the alleged bank fraud. It also mandates the de-indexing, de-listing, and de-referencing of specified URLs and other unspecified links.
Moneylife argues that the civil judge’s order is excessively broad, hindering journalistic reporting and violating its fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantee equality, freedom of speech, and personal liberty, respectively. According to Moneylife, the order severely restricts the ability to report, publish, or critique matters related to Sandesara, his family, and the Sterling Biotech case.
The contested content includes a series of reports and videos from 2019 to 2026, covering various aspects such as Enforcement Directorate (ED) actions, proceedings against fugitive economic offenders, debt settlement proposals, and other developments linked to the Sterling Biotech case. The appeal asserts that there is no legal basis for issuing “dynamic injunctions” against press publications in defamation cases.
Moneylife’s legal team argues that the trial court neglected to apply the Supreme Court’s standards set in Bloomberg Television Production Services India v. Zee Entertainment Enterprises for issuing pre-trial injunctions in defamation cases. The civil judge allegedly failed to identify specific statements that could be considered defamatory, false, or malicious.
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The Sterling Biotech controversy involves allegations of substantial bank fraud by Sterling Biotech Limited and related entities associated with the Sandesara family. In 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case alleging fraud amounting to approximately ₹5,383 crore against a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank. Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate attached both domestic and international assets of the Sandesara group, valued at around ₹9,700 crore. The ED’s case claims that loan funds were misappropriated, layered, and laundered through various entities.
The case escalated to the Supreme Court, which, in November 2025, agreed to drop criminal charges against Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, provided they deposited ₹5,100 crore as a settlement. Reuters reported that the Sandesara brothers fled India in 2017 using Albanian passports, denying any wrongdoing.
Legal representation for Moneylife includes Advocates Apar Gupta, Indumugi C, Naman Kumar, and Avanti Deshpande. Advocates Saurabh Rajput, Hemant Shah, and Anunaya Mehta appeared for the Sandesara side.
