In a significant legal development, Exusia India Pvt. Ltd. and its top executives, Founder and CEO Trevor Silver and COO Harpreet Mehta, find themselves in hot water as they face a summons from a Delhi court. The charges stem from allegations of unjust termination and the subsequent release of defamatory statements on the professional networking platform LinkedIn against a former employee.
The complainant, who served in various capacities with Exusia India Pvt. Ltd. from November 2, 2015, to November 3, 2022, claims to have been unfairly terminated and has suffered damages to their professional reputation. The dispute arose when the complainant resigned on November 3, 2022, citing the failure of the company to fulfill a commitment regarding a bonus amount of $100,000. In response, the company allegedly issued a dismissal letter on November 17, 2022, and blocked the complainant’s email.
Further aggravating the situation, demands for severance pay in line with company practice went unmet. An investigation revealed non-compliance on the part of Exusia India Pvt. Ltd., as Provident Fund (PF) and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) had not been deposited in the respective departments.
Rather than addressing the financial dispute, the accused individuals purportedly took to LinkedIn to release false and defamatory statements against the complainant. These statements, intentionally made public, have reportedly caused extensive professional damage, impacting the complainant’s chances of securing employment with other organizations.
In response to these allegations, the complainant served a legal notice on May 30, 2023, demanding an apology and the removal of defamatory statements. However, the accused persons, in their response received on June 14, 2023, neither tendered an apology nor deleted the contentious LinkedIn statements.
Following a thorough examination of the evidence presented by the complainant, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samiksha Gupta of Dwarka Courts found a prima-facie case for offences under section 499/500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Trevor Silver, Harpreet Mehta, and Exusia India Pvt. Ltd. As a result, the court has issued summonses, with the next hearing scheduled for February 17, 2024.
