Tata Sons’ very public spat with former chairman Cyrus Mistry has taken another turn with legal notice to return confidential documents
The spat between Tata Steel's parent company and its former chairman Cyrus Mistry has taken another turn, after the group demanded he return all confidential information and documents regarding the Indian conglomerate in his possession.
The letter, sent by lawyers at Tata Group's holding firm Tata Sons, also demanded Mistry sign a letter pledging not to disclose any confidential information about the $100bn (£79bn) company, including to affiliates, relatives and family members.
"We have credible information that you have wrongfully and dishonestly taken movable property being confidential information," said the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Read more: Ousted Tata chairman Mistry to remain head of Tata Steel
It is the second legal notice to Mistry in as many days. Yesterday, Tata Sons accused Mistry of breaching confidentiality rules and said it would take legal action against him.
Mistry was sacked as chairman of Tata Sons in late October and a public spat broke out soon after, with Mistry claiming Tata Sons made him a “lame duck chairman” and called his departure invalid and illegal.
Read more: Tata spat escalates as Mistry ousted as chair of consultancy services group
Tata Sons management has said Mistry misled the selection committee set up in 2011 to pick a chairman to succeed Ratan Tata, by making lofty statements about his plans for the Tata Group, but in the next four years none of those "plans have been given effect to".
Two weeks ago, Mistry resigned from the boards of all Tata Group listed firms he was still a member of, including Tata Motors, ahead of shareholder meetings about whether to remove him from management.