3 months ago
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A erstwhile Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bahwan CyberTek radical of companies has approached the Madras High Court alleging that its Oman-based chairperson had coerced him astatine her Dubai villa to resign from the directorship of 39 companies for reportedly causing a nonaccomplishment of $76 million. These companies are located successful India, Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and the United States.
Justice N. Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has entertained a civilian suit filed by Durgaprasad Shanmugam and granted an interim injunction restraining the chairperson, Sheikha Hind Suhail Al Mukhaini Bahwan, from implementing a ‘settlement agreement’, done which the plaintiff had besides fixed distant his shareholding successful those companies and had agreed to cede his different idiosyncratic properties to screen the alleged losses.
The interim injunction was granted aft proceeding elder counsel P.S. Raman and A.K. Sriram for the plaintiff and elder counsel Satish Parasaran and Srinath Sridevan for the chairperson and the group’s planetary caput of finance. The justice agreed with Mr. Raman and Mr. Sriram that the plaintiff had made retired a prima facie lawsuit for the assistance of interim injunction until the adjacent day of proceeding connected March 23, 2026.
What does the ailment say?
In his plaint, Mr. Shanmugam, 62, of Anna Nagar successful Chennai, told the tribunal helium was an alumnus of the College of Engineering astatine Anna University and a co-founder of Bahwan CyberTek, a planetary exertion enterprise. He claimed to person built the institution from scratch into an planetary business, dispersed implicit 50 countries, successful a span of 26 years. He besides served arsenic the group’s CEO during the period.
The plaintiff was diagnosed with aggregate myeloma, an assertive and life-threatening signifier of humor cancer, successful June 2021, and yet, helium remained progressive with the affairs of the radical institution to the grade his wellness permitted. In December 2025, helium had to sojourn the U.S. for attraction but received a connection from the chairperson’s bureau asking him to conscionable her successful Dubai connected December 19.
Mr. Shanmugam postponed his therapy league and went to Dubai believing it was a regular concern meeting. When helium visited her villa astatine Palm Jumeirah, 1 of Dubai’s astir exclusive addresses, helium was intimidated by her information guards who confiscated his mobile phones, thereby depriving him of the accidental to interaction his family, friends, oregon lawyers during the gathering that lasted 8 hours, the plaintiff claimed.
“She announced that her day acquisition to the plaintiff was that she had filed a transgression ailment against him, resulting successful a question prohibition that would forestall him from leaving the UAE. Upon proceeding this, the plaintiff was shocked and traumatised. He instantly stated that helium could dice successful the lack of life-saving aesculapian attraction but the suspect fig 1 (chairperson) stated that a transgression similar him deserved to die,” the plaint read.
Further stating helium was accused of causing a nonaccomplishment of $76 cardinal to the radical without providing immoderate circumstantial details regarding the ailment against him, the plaintiff said, helium was coerced to motion a ‘settlement agreement’ divesting him and his household members of each the interests they had successful a fig of companies. The plaintiff said, the clauses successful the statement would beryllium nary 1 would voluntarily motion specified an agreement.
He besides said the institution employees had taken distant information from his laptop and 3 mobile phones and inactive did not retreat the transgression ailment that imposed a question prohibition connected him for much than 10 days. Hence, helium began consulting doctors successful Dubai and issued a ineligible announcement to the chairperson connected December 31, 2025. The plaintiff besides lodged a transgression ailment successful Dubai connected January 16, 2026.
After reaching the United States, helium initiated civilian proceedings earlier the Superior Court of California to enforce his rights arsenic an worker of the radical and filed the contiguous suit earlier the Madras High Court for declaring the ‘settlement agreement’ arsenic invalid, unenforceable, non est successful law, and null and void. The suit was filed aft obtaining the permission of the tribunal to writer the chairperson who resides successful Muscat.
However, Mr. Parasaran said, an exertion to revoke the permission would beryllium filed soon. Accusing the plaintiff of indulging successful forum shopping, the elder counsel said, Mr. Shanmugam himself had conceded to person already filed a civilian suit successful the U.S. isolated from initiating transgression proceedings successful Dubai.
