Gujarat High Court refuses to quash FIR against journalist Ravi Nair over Adani article

The Gujarat High Court has refused to quash a forgery FIR against journalist Ravi Nair, registered by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd over a Washington Post article alleging LIC invested USD 3.9 billion in the Adani Group on government instructions. Justice M R Mengdey observed that the FIR and a pending defamation complaint involved different allegations and that investigation was needed to determine the authenticity of documents cited in the article. The court noted that LIC and the Finance Ministry had disputed the existence of those documents.

Livelaw.in reports that Nair had argued the FIR was an abuse of process since a defamation complaint on the same facts was pending. The court rejected this, saying a cognizable offence was prima facie made out. In a related development, The News Minute reports that on August 17, 2026, Gujarat police raided Nair's homes in Kerala and Delhi, seizing phones, laptops, and a tablet, including devices belonging to his son and a colleague who are not accused. The police did not provide hash values for the seized devices, which the report says goes against Supreme Court guidelines.

The FIR was registered under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including cheating and forgery. Nair had earlier approached the Supreme Court but withdrew the case with liberty to move the High Court. The court dismissed his plea to quash the FIR, allowing the investigation to proceed.