Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Pradeep Kumar Rajarathinam vs Neil Patel Digital Llc on 10 November, 2025
SLP(C) No. 31282/2025
ITEM NO.32 COURT NO.8 SECTION IV-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No. 31282/2025
[Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 23-09-2025
in AP.IM No. 04/2025 passed by the High Court of Karnataka at
Bengaluru]
PRADEEP KUMAR RAJARATHINAM Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
NEIL PATEL DIGITAL LLC & ANR. Respondent(s)
FOR ADMISSION
IA No. 275936/2025 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL
DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES
Date : 10-11-2025 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.V. VISWANATHAN
For Petitioner(s) :Mr. Nalin Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Nimisha Menon, Adv.
Mr. Arpit Shukla, Adv.
Mr. Dev Rishi, Adv.
Ms. Gargi Srivastava, AOR
For Respondent(s) :Mr. Nakul Dewan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Shiv Sapra, Adv.
Mr. Aviral Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. Vanshay Kaul, Adv.
Mr. Samiron Borkataky, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
Signature Not Verified
O R D E R
Digitally signed by CHANDRESH Date: 2025.11.12 17:26:03 IST Reason: SLP(C) No. 31282/2025
1. The respondent no.1 herein preferred an application under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (for short “the Act, 1996”) and prayed for the following reliefs:-
a. Pass an order directing Respondent No.1 to deposit the sum of INR 7.9 Crores (Rupees Seven Crores and Ninety Lakhs Only), being the amount siphoned off by the Respondent No.1 from the LLP in the LLP's Bank Account, IN THE ALTERNATIVE Pass an order directing Respondent No.1 to deposit the sum of INR 7.9 Crores (Rupees Seven Crores and Ninety Lakhs Only), being the amount siphoned off by the Respondent No.1 from the LLP with this Hon'ble Court in an interest bearing account;
IN THE ALTERNATIVE Pass an order directing the Respondent No.1 to deposit a sum of INR 3,50,00,000/-, out of the amount siphoned off by the Respondent No.1 from the LLP into the account of the LLP to enable the Petitioner to meet the immediate and foreseeable operational costs and expenses of the business of the LLP, pending the final adjudication of the arbitral proceedings;
b. Pass an ad-interim order directing Respondent No.1 to disclose on affidavit the complete particulars of all his movable and immovable assets, including but not limited to bank accounts, shares, properties. Investments, beneficial interests, and interests in any companies, trusts or partnerships, whether held individually or jointly or through any person or entity (including but not limited to Stan Ventures and Go Dash acting for or on his behalf) to the extent necessary to secure the Petitioner's claim and prevent frustration of the arbitral award;
c. Pass an order restraining the Respondent No.1, his family, successors, servants, agents, representatives, affiliates, and any entities under his control from alienating, disposing of, transferring, or otherwise dealing with any of his assets, to the extent necessary to secure the Petitioner's claim and prevent frustration of the arbitral award;
d. Pass an ad-interim order attaching all the assets disclosed SLP(C) No. 31282/2025 in the Affidavit to the extent necessary to preserve the subject matter of the arbitration proceedings, until disposal of the present arbitration proceedings;
e. Pass an ad-interim injunction restraining the Respondent No.1, or any person, company, entity, subsidiary, associate, servant, agent, or person claiming through or under him, from accessing, operating, or in any manner utilizing (1) the LLP's Bank Account, including initiating or approving any transaction or withdrawal therefrom, (2) from acting for, on behalf of, or representing the LLP in any manner or capacity whatsoever, whether in commercial dealings, communications, or otherwise, (3) from using, misappropriating, exploiting, copying, or disclosing any intellectual property (defined as Petitioner's IP and Petitioner's Brand Name) owned by or licensed to the Petitioner, including but not limited to the "Neil Patel Digital" brand, software, website, source code, marketing materials, client information or any other proprietary information and (4) to strictly comply with Clause 16 of the LLP Agreement dated 18.08.2022 produced as Annexure-E and to refrain from in any manner contacting any existing clients of the LLP; from soliciting clients, employees, or vendors of the LLP, and from engaging directly or indirectly in any competing business during the subsistence of the LLP and for a period of two years thereafter; pending disposal of the present petition;
f. Pass an ad interim injunction directing the Respondent No.2 to forthwith refrain from entertaining or acting upon any instructions received from the Respondent No.1 in respect of the Bank Account of the LLP (Account Name: Neil Patel Digital LLP and Account Number: 50200045507221) including but not limited to initiating, approving, or completing any transactions, whether pre-dated, post-dated, or otherwise, pending disposal of the present petition;
g. Pass an ad interim injunction directing Respondent No.1 to strictly comply with Clause 5.5(b) of the LLP Agreement dated 18.08.2022 produced as Annexure-E within a period of 5 days or such time as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit; by immediately handing over to the Petitioner all User IDs, passwords, access credentials, and administrative control for the LLP's electronic systems, including but not limited to its bank accounts, domain, email, applications, software, and hardware; and further, to restore the LLP's website and all social media platforms (defined as LLP's Social Media) operating under the Petitioner's Brand Name, to their original form and configuration, and not to tamper SLP(C) No. 31282/2025 with, rename, redirect, deactivate or delete the same in any manner whatsoever.
h. Pass an ad interim injunction restraining the Respondent No.1, or any person, entity, servant, agent, or affiliate acting on his behalf, (1) from transferring, alienating, encumbering, or creating any third-party interest or rights in any of the tangible or intangible assets of the LLP, or in the rights and obligations under the LLP Agreement dated 18.08.2022 produced as Annexure-E including the Petitioner's proprietary rights therein and (2) from destroying, altering or otherwise making inaccessible to the Petitioner any data, information, or documentation regarding financial records, operational records, customer information or any other material containing the Petitioner's IP, methodologies, procedures, developments, discoveries, code, software, hardware, algorithms, technical know-how and other proprietary or confidential information regarding the LLP's business;
i. Pass an order directing the Respondent No.1 to maintain status quo ante in respect of the LLP's legal and financial position, its business operations, assets, and all proprietary rights, and to act in accordance with the Response-Cum-Demand Notice dated 18.04.2025 passed by the Petitioner in accordance with the LLP Agreement dated 18.08.2022 produced as Annexure-E;
j. Pass ex-parte ad-interim orders in respects of the prayers
(a) to (i) above;
k. Pass an order directing the Respondent No.1 for payment of legal costs Incurred by the Petitioner arising out of the present proceedings; and l. Pass such other or further order(s)/ direction(s), or relief(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit, just, and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case, in the interest of justice.
m. Pass such other or further order(s), direction(s), or relief(s) as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit, just, and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case, in the interest of justice.” (quoted verbatim from the paperbook)
2. The Section 9 application was looked into by a learned Single SLP(C) No. 31282/2025 Judge of the High Court and the same came to be partly allowed in the following terms:-
“(i) This petition is allowed in part.
(ii) The respondent No.1 is directed to deposit a sum of Rs.5,90,00,000/- (Rupees Five Crores Ninety Lakhs only) before this Court within a period of ten days from today. On such deposit, the Registry is directed to keep the amount in an interest earning fixed deposit in any nationalized bank for a period of one year.
(iii) The respondent No.1 is restrained by an order of injunction, either directly or indirectly, from accessing, operating or utilizing the petitioner's bank account, in any manner, whatsoever and from acting for or on behalf of or representing the petitioner, in any manner whatsoever and from using, misappropriating, exploiting, copying or disclosing any intellectual property owned by or licensed to the petitioner.
(iv) The respondent No.1 is also injuncted, in any manner either directly or indirectly, contacting any existing clients of the partnership and/or from soliciting business from them in any manner or to reduce business with the petitioner etc. He is also restrained from engaging directly or indirectly in any competing business during the subsistence of the partnership with the petitioner and for a period of two years thereafter.
(v)The respondent No.1 is also injuncted, in any manner either directly or indirectly, soliciting or hiring or enticing any employees of the petitioner.
(vi) It is open for the petitioner to seek the other reliefs before the arbitrator once the Tribunal is constituted in accordance with law.”
3. The petitioner, being aggrieved by the order passed by the High Court, referred to above, is here before us with the present petition.
4. We heard Mr. Nalin Kohli, the learned senior counsel appearing SLP(C) No. 31282/2025 for the petitioner and Mr. Nakul Dewan, the learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent no.1.
5. We are of the view that an appeal lies under Section 37 of the Act, 1996 against any order granting or refusing to grant any measure under the Section 9 application. Since Section 9 application has been partly allowed, the correct remedy for the petitioner herein would be to prefer an appeal under Section 37. If any such appeal is filed within a period of two weeks from today, the Court concerned shall look into the same on its own merits and decide the same accordingly.
6. With the aforesaid, this petition stands disposed of.
7. We clarify that we have otherwise not expressed any opinion on the merits of the case.
8. Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of.
(CHANDRESH) (POOJA SHARMA) ASTT. REGISTRAR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)