Amazon to Delhi HC: Enforce arbitration order, jail Biyani

Amazon.com Inc on Monday filed a petition in the Delhi high court, seeking imprisonment of Future group promoters, including founder Kishore Biyani, for allegedly violating securities market rules by illegally encumbering group company shares.

According to the petition, a copy of which was reviewed by Mint, Amazon has also sought the enforcement of an emergency arbitration order of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). The Singapore court in October ordered an interim stay on Future Group’s ₹24,713 crore deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance Industries. A single-judge bench of the Delhi high court had later allowed the deal to go through, subject to regulatory approvals.

Amazon’s petition has come days after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) gave conditional approval to Future Group for amalgamation of six Future Group firms as part of the plan to sell assets to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd and Reliance Fashion and Lifestyle. Future Group announced the deal to sell all its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses to Reliance Industries’ two subsidiaries on 29 August to repay debt.