The Calcutta High Court has ordered the removal of an online documentary alleging crony capitalism involving Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani.

The interim order followed a defamation lawsuit filed by Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group. The company argued that the documentary contained false and baseless claims that had raised misleading questions among its investors.

The documentary, shared on social media by Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia, an Indian-origin entrepreneur based in the United States, has reportedly attracted millions of views across social media platforms.

In an interim order issued on Monday, October 26, Justice Arya De described the documentary as neither a news report nor an account of an institutional process, but rather a dramatised or deconstructed narrative.

The court directed YouTube, X, formerly Twitter, and Meta to remove the disputed video immediately.

Adani Enterprises, the Indian prime minister’s office and Bhatia had not issued immediate comments on the court’s decision or the lawsuit. Social media companies also did not immediately respond.

Modi’s political opponents have for years alleged that he maintains close ties with Adani and that the conglomerate has benefited from government support. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government and the Adani Group have repeatedly rejected the allegations as baseless.

In its defamation case, Adani Enterprises told the court that it did not intend to suppress constructive criticism of government policy or business concentration. However, the company accused Bhatia of making fabricated allegations in the documentary while withholding objective facts.

Bhatia, who lives in the United States, confirmed in a post on X that the Adani Group’s lawsuit seeks 500 million rupees in damages.

“Truth is on my side,” Bhatia wrote.

He added that he believed the documentary had shaken Adani Enterprises and struck a nerve at the highest levels.

Bhatia is best known as a co-founder of Hotmail, the popular email service he sold to Microsoft in 1997.