Bombay High Court
Credit Suisse Services (India) Pvt Ltd vs Nisheet Singh on 21 March, 2022
Author: N. J. Jamadar
Bench: N. J. Jamadar
14-ial-7970-2022.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
IN ITS COMMERCIAL DIVISION
INTERIM APPLICATION (L.) NO. 7970 OF 2022
Digitally
signed by
IN
SHRADDHA
SHRADDHA KAMLESH COMMERCIAL IP SUIT NO. 74 OF 2022
KAMLESH TALEKAR
TALEKAR Date:
2022.03.23
10:01:53
+0530 In the matter between :
Credit Suisse Services (India)
Pvt. Ltd. ...Orig. Plaintiff/Applicant
vs.
Nisheet Singh ... Orig.Defendant/Respondent
****
Mr.Shyam Mehta, Senior Advocate a/w. Mr. Hiren Kamod,
Mr.Kunal Kanungo, Ms.Anuradha lali, Mr. Rahul Punjabi i/b S.
Venkiteswaran for applicant/plaintiff.
Mr.Aashutosh Srivastava for defendant.
Mr. S.K. Dekhale, OSD, Court Receiver present.
Mr. Rohit Dhingra, representative of FTI Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
present.
CORAM : N. J. JAMADAR, J.
DATE : 21st MARCH, 2022 P.C.:
1. Heard Mr. Mehta, the learned Senior Counsel for the applicant/plaintiff.
2. This interim application is taken out seeking further directions pursuant to the order passed by this Court on 4 th December 2021. In the said order, this Court was persuaded to, inter-alia, direct the appointment of a neutral technical expert to Shraddha Talekar, PS 1/5 14-ial-7970-2022.doc assist the Court Receiver in executing the said order. Clause 2 of the order dated 4th December 2021 reads as under :
"(ii) FTI Consulting India Private Limited is appointed as a neutral technical expert to assist the Court Receiver in executing this order, including for the purposes of imaging the Defendant's devices/cloud servers/storage and examining it for instances of violations as averred in the Suit, and submitting a details examination report to this Court."
3. Mr.Mehta submits that FTI Consulting India Private Limited is in the process of submitting report. It has sought extension of time upto 28th March 2022. In order to address the concern which necessitated the fling of the suit and the interim application, it is necessary to direct the FTI Consulting India Private Limited to submit the report in a sealed envelope and redact the information, which the report is likely to advert to, in respect of the identity of the individuals and entities/customers, referred to in clauses (i) to
(iv) of prayer clause (b) of the interim application, which read as under :
"(b) direct the Ld. Court Receiver and/or FTI to :
(i) partially redact, by masking all, but the last four digits of US SSNs in column K; (ii) fully redact the NNSS/ID number of one individual, Mr. Brady W. Dougan, at row no. 32 of column K; and (iii) fully redact the date of birth of one individual, Mr. Chris W. Battema at row no. 11 in column B from Excel sheet titled "Few Former Shraddha Talekar, PS 2/5 14-ial-7970-2022.doc Employee's details";
(ii) fully redact the details of four Swiss bank customers, including customer names and bank account numbers at serial nos. 26 to 29 from the Excel sheet titled "Few Client Bank Details"
(iii) Redact any other such personal identifcation numbers such as US SSNs or Swiss NNSS (other than specifcally mentioned in prayer clause (b)(i) above), government identifcation, national insurance or tax identifcation numbers that FTI may fnd upon examination of the data obtained from the Defendant's physical devices and cloud storage; and
(iv) Further redact any other Swiss bank customer details (i.e., customers of a Switzerland based bank which is regulated by Swiss banking secrecy laws including Bank A), that helps to identify such customers (including, but not limited to customer names, their bank account numbers, social network IDs. etc.) other than those specifcally mentioned in prayer clause (b)(ii) as may be disclosed upon examination of data obtained the Defendant's physical devices and cloud storage."
4. Mr.Mehta invited the attention of the Court to clause (ix) of the order dated 4th December 2021, whereby the Interim Application (L.) No.28164 of 2021 seeking the permission to redact items mentioned in prayer clauses (b) and (c) thereof was allowed.
5. In the backdrop of the confdential nature of the information and the alleged data breach, the apprehension on the part of the petitioner that the very same information which was permitted to Shraddha Talekar, PS 3/5 14-ial-7970-2022.doc be redacted may emerge in the report of the FTI Consulting India Private Limited to the prejudice of the petitioner and the concerned individuals/entities, appear justifable.
6. Thus, the application deserves to be allowed in terms of prayer clauses (a) and (b).
7. It is, however, clarifed that FTI Consulting India Private Limited shall have, retain and preserve in a proper form, a complete un-redacted report, so that, if need arises, the Court can call for and peruse the un-redacted report prepared by FTI Consulting India Private Limited.
8. The learned counsel for the defendant made a grievance that there is non-compliance with clause (iv) of the order dated 4 th December 2021, whereby the authorities were directed to return the electronic devices within 72 hours, after deriving images therefrom. It was submitted that the devices have not been returned to the defendant.
9. Let the Court Receiver fle report about compliance of the aforesaid direction regarding clause (iv). Shraddha Talekar, PS 4/5
14-ial-7970-2022.doc
10. The interim applications stands disposed.
11. At this stage, Mr.Rohit Dhingra, the representative of FTI Consulting India Private Limited seeks 2 to 3 weeks more time to fle the report, as the process of redaction may consume some time.
12. Time to fle report stands extended till 11th April 2022.
13. The matter be listed on 11th April 2022.
(N. J. JAMADAR, J.) Shraddha Talekar, PS 5/5