Supreme Court to Anil Ambani: Pay up or go to jail

Anil Ambani, the bearer of a surname synonymous with opulence and brother to the wealthiest Indian, has been held guilty of contempt and threatened with three-month imprisonment if he fails to clear dues of Rs 453 crore within four weeks.

“Wilful default is made,” the bench of Justices R.F. Nariman and Vineet Saran ruled, adding that a “deliberate misstatement” was made to “circumvent” the orders of the court.

Telecom firm Ericsson had taken to the court three companies of Anil, collectively called “Reliance companies” by the bench, for failure to stick to an extended deadline for clearing the dues that were run up while the Swedish multinational was operating the telecom network of Reliance Communications (RCom).