The Long Wait: Bose, Rattan, Haribhakti and the Cases That Never Conclude

Three business figures, three jurisdictions and well over forty separate matters are on record. What is missing is the usual end product of a justice system: a decision on the merits. This is an account of what the record shows, what it does not, and how long everyone has been waiting.

Krishan Rattan: a US$101 million question that ended in a consent order

In Voltaire Capital Holdings Limited & Others v Eric Watson & Others (CL-2022-000699) in the English Commercial Court, Rattan was Defendant No. 2. A judgment of 24 April 2026, [2026] EWHC 1103 (Comm), records the claimants’ case:

• Investors were shown a legitimate foreign-exchange business principally controlled by Rattan.
• Eric Watson allegedly held undisclosed ownership and control.
• The business allegedly traded on uneconomic terms with counterparties in which defendants had concealed interests.
• Unrealistic forecasts allegedly induced further investment.

About US$132 million was invested and about US$101 million was allegedly lost. The pleaded claims included fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy.

These were allegations. That judgment dealt with another defendant’s proposed counterclaim and decided nothing against Rattan. According to a Delhi High Court order of 14 September 2026, Rattan relies on an English consent order of 5 August 2026 under which the proceedings against him were discontinued without any adverse finding of fraud, dishonesty or wrongdoing. The consent order and settlement terms are not public in this record. A nine-figure loss claim has therefore closed, as far as Rattan is concerned, without a public explanation of where the money went.

One personal liability is verified. On 28 July 2025, in [2025] EWHC 1948 (Comm), the court ordered Rattan to pay £63,267 towards the claimants’ costs of a contested disclosure application, after a 10% reduction for his limited success. It is a civil costs order, not a fine or a fraud award. Whether it was paid, or absorbed into the settlement, is not established.

The corporate record is longer:

• Voltaire Capital (United Kingdom) Ltd: Rattan was a director of this company (number 08099043). It entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 17 May 2019 and was dissolved on 23 April 2025.
• Distribution Logistics Infrastructure Private Limited: The company entered corporate insolvency resolution on 14 May 2026. A creditor list of 6 June 2026 shows about ₹993.26 crore of provisionally admitted secured claims from lenders including SBI, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Union Bank and ARCIL. These are claims against the company, not against Rattan. His firm, Terra-Invest, says his resignation as director took effect on 20 June 2025, before the insolvency. The corresponding MCA filing has not been seen.
• Mount Row: Ship & Bunker reported a Dubai suit filed in July 2024 by Gulf Petrochem FZC against Mount Row and Rod Sutton over the US$124 million purchase of GP Global’s Fujairah terminal in May 2022. The suit seeks annulment and AED100 million in damages, and alleges that a US$135 million offer was available. An appellate decision of 30 April 2025 reportedly sent the case back to the first-instance court. Rattan has not been verified as a defendant, and no merits judgment was located.

Rattan is also a plaintiff. In CS(OS) 815/2026 the Delhi High Court on 14 September 2026 granted an interim restraint on further defamatory imputations, while expressly permitting continued fact-finding. His application alleging breach through 12 later articles is disputed by the defendants and is listed for 15 October 2026.

Ankiti Bose: four years of allegations with no adjudication

Bose was suspended as Zilingo’s chief executive in March 2022 and dismissed on 20 May 2022 after a company-commissioned forensic investigation. Mint reported that the termination letter cited insubordination, neglect, failure to provide documents or attend questioning, and breakdown of trust. It did not expressly accuse her of fraudulent transactions. Bose disputed the dismissal and said she was not given adequate opportunity to respond.

The reported allegations, none of them tested by a court, are these:

• Vendor payments: Inc42 alleged in April 2023 that more than US$10 million in payments was unexplained, including about US$7 million to Algo Legal, US$2.3 million to OneDelta Technology Solutions and US$944,000 to EbixCash, and attributed the approvals to Bose. She denied knowledge of any discrepancies. Inc42 acknowledged it had not seen the Kroll or Deloitte reports.
• Salary: Reports alleged a roughly tenfold salary increase without board approval. Bose says she took a 30% pay cut and has company documents to show it.
• Revenue: Bloomberg reported that investigators questioned FY2021 revenue figures of US$190 million, US$164 million and US$140 million, alongside a document showing about US$40 million in net revenue. Bose attributed the differences to reporting dates, cancelled orders and uninvoiced revenue, and said investors knew the recognition practices.
• Management: The same reporting carried employee complaints about management behaviour, spending and expansion.

The company’s own record is clearer:

• Masks: Mint reported health-ministry allegations that Zilingo tried to supply substandard KN95 masks with allegedly forged inspection certificates, which the company disputed. In W.P.(C) 8001/2020 the Delhi High Court on 15 October 2020 permitted encashment of a US$6.75 million bank guarantee, with the funds held subject to further orders.
• Regulatory filings: Singapore’s ACRA confirmed in February 2023 that it had taken enforcement action against Zilingo for failing to file annual returns for 2020 and 2021. It did not say what the action was.
• Liquidation: Creditors resolved to wind the company up on 17 February 2023, and the liquidation was still being administered in March 2026.

None of these is a personal finding against Bose.

Two sets of pending proceedings name her, both known only from a non-official court index:

• GST case: Case 155/2025 before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Esplanade, Mumbai, was registered on 13 November 2025 under the offence provisions of the CGST Act. It names Bose, Zilingo Global and others. The complaint, the alleged tax amount and any cognizance order have not been obtained. The next date shown is 18 January 2027.
• Section 379 BNSS applications: MC 1583/2025 and MC 1584/2025 were brought by Nikhil Subramaniam and Inc42, filed in April 2025 and listed for 24 October 2026. Their existence does not show that any court has found a falsehood.

Bose has litigated extensively herself:

• Outlook column: She obtained interim relief in the Bombay High Court on 24 August 2023 over a Mahesh Murthy column.
• Inc42 and NDTV: Her ₹820 crore defamation suit survived a jurisdiction challenge when the Supreme Court dismissed the defendants’ petition on 9 February 2024. NDTV Convergence has since settled, with no payment disclosed.
• Kapoor and Vaidya: In April 2024 she filed a complaint alleging cheating and coercion over her shares against Dhruv Kapoor and Aadi Vaidya, who deny it. A civil suit against Kapoor is pending.
• Saket proceedings: She has brought civil and criminal defamation proceedings against Inc42.
• 2026 publication orders: She obtained interim orders in June and August 2026 restraining publications.

So the dispute over what happened inside a company once valued near a billion dollars is now being fought mainly through defamation suits about what may be said of it. The forensic reports that could answer the question have never been published.

Shailesh Haribhakti: the boardroom name on the charge sheets

Haribhakti’s record is mostly that of a professional director named in prosecutions against the companies he served. One matter is personal. An ICAI cause list names him as the member answerable in PPR/HPC/DD/58/INF/2018/DC/1860/2024, listed before the Disciplinary Committee on 13 October 2026. The reference number points to a matter that originated in 2018. The charges are not public, and no misconduct has been established.

The director-liability matters are these:

• Mangaluru legal metrology: Five prosecutions (CC 525 to 529/2012) concern package declarations and MRP stickers. The Karnataka High Court quashed them against several co-accused in 2019 but expressly let all five continue against Haribhakti. No trial outcome has been located, fourteen years after filing.
• Blue Star and Ramsons Traders: A complaint of 19 August 2017 alleges cheating and conspiracy over a terminated distributor agreement and about ₹41 lakh in service payments. The Calcutta High Court stayed it on 14 September 2023.
• Blue Star signboard: A municipal complaint from 2011 concerned a dealer’s signboard. The Bombay High Court quashed the process on 21 August 2026, finding no sufficient basis to connect the directors to it. That conclusion took fifteen years.
• Patna: Criminal Miscellaneous 48139/2025 arises from a 2022 government complaint in Muzaffarpur. The only order seen is an adjournment.
• Food adulteration: Cases from 2008 and 2010 in Guwahati, Navi Mumbai and Indore were disclosed in a 2013 Future Lifestyle Fashions document. The Indore matter names him and was stayed.
• Delhi Food Bazar licence: A revisional court in 2007 set aside the magistrate’s order.
• Inalsa Appliances: A 2010 summons concerned the liquidation. Haribhakti says his directorship ended in October 2000.
• Future Lifestyle Fashions: He chaired a creditor meeting challenged by Catalyst Trusteeship, and the challenge was dismissed. He resigned as chairperson in April 2022, citing inadequate implementation of board recommendations.
• Aakash Educational Services: He is a named respondent in NCLAT appeals decided procedurally in December 2024.

The sanctions involving the audit firm that carries his name fell on the firm or on other partners:

• RBI, 2021: The RBI barred Haribhakti & Co. LLP from audits of regulated entities for two years from 1 April 2022.
• RBI, 2006: Moneylife reports an earlier two-year restriction.
• SEBI, 2006: SEBI’s Karvy findings criticised the firm’s internal-audit work.
• ICAI and NFRA, 2024: The orders penalised Anand Kumar Jhunjhunwala, Chetan Desai and Rakesh Rathi.

Haribhakti has said he ceased to be a partner on 31 March 2018.

The record of delay

The individuals may well be vindicated, and some already have been. The institutions come out worse:

• A GST prosecution registered in November 2025 has its next date in January 2027.
• A disciplinary matter with a 2018 reference is being heard in late 2026.
• Prosecutions from 2012 that a High Court allowed to continue in 2019 have no outcome on record.
• A ₹993 crore hole in public-sector bank books has yet to produce a public account of accountability.
• Forensic reports on Zilingo remain private while courts are asked to rule on articles about them.

Delay harms both sides. If the allegations are true, investors, lenders and the exchequer are being denied a remedy. If they are false, three people have been left under open-ended suspicion that no court has bothered to clear.

The demands follow from the record:

• Courts should fix time-bound schedules for the Mumbai GST case and the Mangaluru prosecutions.
• The ICAI should publish its charges and decision promptly.
• The DLI resolution professional and lenders should disclose the results of any transaction audit.
• Enforcement agencies holding complaints about Zilingo should either act or close the file and say so.

Each of these files needs to end in a decision on the merits.