Karnataka High Court directs preservation of Byju’s insolvency related e-mails

The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the preservation of email communications linked to the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of edtech firm Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (Byju’s) amid ongoing proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and a related criminal investigation..Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on a plea by Think & Learn founder Byju Raveendran, who sought a series of directions to safeguard crucial digital evidence."The only prayer that can be granted, at this juncture, is directing the 5th respondent to preserve all the emails or conversations between the protagonists/stakeholders in the case at hand, subject to further orders that would be passed after hearing the parties," the Court said. .Byju's was admitted to CIRP in July after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru allowed the insolvency plea filed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over a default of ₹158 crore.The NCLT had appointed Pankaj Srivastava as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP).Later, the NCLAT closed the insolvency proceedings and accepted a settlement between Byju's and BCCI after recording an undertaking that the repayment is being personally funded by Riju Raveendran (brother by Byju Raveendran) and not taken from money that should go to financial creditors.However, the Supreme Court reversed this decision and directed the NCLT to decide the issue afresh. Subsequently, Srivastava was replaced as RP after it was found that he neglected his duty. Meanwhile, Raveendran accused Ernst and Young, Srivastava and Glas Trust (one of the financial creditors) of committing acts of 'criminal conspiracy' against him. He also filed a First Information Report (FIR) in Bengaluru in this regard. .Raveendran in his present plea before the High Court alleged that in a Committee of Creditors (CoC) meeting held on April 8, it was decided that over 2,000 emails pertaining to ongoing criminal investigation and CIRP be deleted.This would cause irreparable damage to the investigation as neither the police nor Raveendran have access to these sensitive emails, he contended.He urged the Court to intervene and protect data connected to the company’s official CIRP email ID — 'ip.byjus@outlook.com' .Among the multiple prayers made in the petition, Raveendran specifically requested the Court to:Direct police to seize the CIRP email account and preserve all its data to prevent any further loss of emails, referencing the CoC meeting Direct to police initiate legal steps to recover deleted emails from the same account and preserve them for continued investigation;Direct the production of the case diary in Crime No. 44/2025 to assess the progress of the investigation;Expedite the investigation into the said crime, without proceeding to arrest the accused, unless required by law;And pass interim reliefs restraining the current Resolution Professional) from appointing a third-party IT expert as discussed in the CoC meeting, and to stay the execution of decisions taken in that meeting pending disposal of the present petition and related quashing petitions..Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Shyammohan V argued that nearly 2,400 emails were deleted under the tenure of the previous Resolution Professional, allegedly during a process of “re-foldering.” He contended that these communications were crucial pieces of evidence reflecting stakeholder interactions and must be preserved to enable a fair and complete probe.The Court noted that while several prayers relate to the merits of decisions made during the CIRP and the CoC meeting, those matters fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NCLT and the NCLAT.The State, represented by Additional Government Advocate Rahul Cariappa, informed the Court that the investigation in the FIR lodged by Raveendran has currently been stayed by a coordinate bench of the High Court on March 17. .Senior Advocate Udaya Holla, appearing for GLAS Trust, submitted that while he requires time to file objections on other interim measures, he has no objection to the direction for email preservation.In light of the stay by the High Court on the FIR, Justice Nagaprasanna held that directions relating to the progress or production of the case diary would be premature.Hence, it allowed only one of the reliefs sought — the preservation of all emails and conversations associated with the CIRP email account..The case will be heard next on April 21. .[Read Order]