2026:BHC-OS:821 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 7489 OF 2025 IN SUIT NO. 610 OF 2017 BENNET COLEMAN & CO. LTD. )…APPLICANT IN THE MATTER BETWEEN K.M.M. PRASANNA )…PLAINTIFF VERSUS MEENAL BAGHEL AND OTHERS )…DEFENDANTS WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 7310 OF 2025 IN SUIT NO. 610 OF 2017 ANUPAM DASGUPTA )…APPLICANT IN THE MATTER BETWEEN K.M.M. PRASANNA )…PLAINTIFF VERSUS MEENAL BAGHEL AND OTHERS )…DEFENDANTS WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 7634 OF 2025 IN SUIT NO. 610 OF 2017 VINEET JAIN )…APPLICANT IN THE MATTER BETWEEN K.M.M. PRASANNA )…PLAINTIFF VERSUS MEENAL BAGHEL AND OTHERS )…DEFENDANTS ARTI VILAS KHATATE Digitally signed by ARTI VILAS KHATATE Date:

2026.01.13 AVK 1/13 WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 7635 OF 2025 IN SUIT NO. 610 OF 2017 MEENAL BAGHEL )…APPLICANT IN THE MATTER BETWEEN K.M.M. PRASANNA )…PLAINTIFF VERSUS MEENAL BAGHEL AND OTHERS )…DEFENDANTS WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 7633 OF 2025 IN SUIT NO. 610 OF 2017 NAZIA SAYED )…APPLICANT IN THE MATTER BETWEEN K.M.M. PRASANNA )…PLAINTIFF VERSUS MEENAL BAGHEL AND OTHERS )…DEFENDANTS Ms. Manjiri Shah, Senior Advocate a/w. Mr. Swaraj Jadhav i/b. Mr.

Vijay Hiremath for the Applicants.

Mr. Ryan Dsouza a/w. Mr. Sourabh Arora, Mr. Vikrant Singh Negi, Mr.

Pratik Thakkar i/b. DSK Legal for the Respondent-Plaintiff.

CORAM : ABHAY AHUJA, J.

DATE : 06^th JANUARY 2026 PC. :

1. The above Interim Applications have been filed by the original Defendants No. 1 to 5 in Suit No. 610 of 2017, seeking to condone delay of approximately 2001 days in filing of the written statement.

2. Ms. Manjiri Shah, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Applicants submits that by an order dated 02^nd February 2018 passed in Notice of Motion No. 1952 of 2017 in the Suit, a statement was made on behalf of all Defendants that they were willing to pull down and remove the article which was published on 17^th August 2017 in the Mumbai Mirror Tabloid Edition, the Mumbai Mirror Website, Mumbai Mirror intermediary website links and any other medium wherein the article was published and that the said article was in fact pulled down. Ms. Shah submits that this was with an understanding that the said issue would be resolved amicably between the parties.

3. Ms. Shah submits that two of the Applicants viz. Anupam Dasgupta and Meenal Baghel had approached the intermediaries for initial talks to amicably settle and had submitted a draft proposal for settlement to the said intermediary and were under the impression that the negotiations were under process and thereafter, the Applicants were informed that the said issue was being settled amicably and was being looked into.

4. Ms. Shah, learned Senior Counsel for the Applicants, submits that the Writ of Summons was served upon the Applicants in September 2019 and the Applicants were under a bona fide belief that the said proceedings were being amicably settled and it was only in December 2024, it was communicated to the Applicant by their Advocates that they will have to file a written statement in the suit. However since the Applicants had work exigencies, the written statement could not be immediately prepared. The Applicants thereafter called for the entire proceedings of the suit to go through, and after going through the proceedings and discussing the issues, the Applicants instructed their Advocates to prepare draft written statements on their behalf.

5. Ms.Shah submits that the draft written statement of Defendant No. 1 was settled on 27^th February 2025 and for the Defendants No. 2 to 5, the draft written statements were settled on 03^rd March 2025 and all the written statements were finalized after some modifications and corrections on 13^th March 2025. Thereafter, the written statements of Defendants No. 1 and 4 were notarized on 27^th March 2025, and of Defendant No. 2 was notarized on 11^th March 2025, of Defendant No. 3 was notarized on 28^th March 2025 and of Defendant No. 5 on 26^th March 2025.

6. Ms. Shah submits