Indian billionaire heiress Lakshmi Venu asks court to gag reports on her divorce

Lakshmi Venu, daughter of Indian billionaire Venu Srinivasan of the TVS group, and Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd. have asked a court in Bengaluru to bar media outlets from reporting on the dissolution of her marriage.

Venu, vice chairperson of TAFE, went to court together with the company. They are seeking an order restraining media outlets from publishing reports about the matter.

TAFE's role as a party to the request ties one of India's largest tractor makers directly to the case. TAFE is chaired by Lakshmi Venu's mother, Mallika Srinivasan, one of India's best-known industrialists.

Courts and media injunctions

Bengaluru civil courts have granted a series of injunctions against media outlets in recent years in cases brought by politicians, businesses and public figures. Some of those orders have been challenged by publishers on free speech grounds. In one high-profile case, the Karnataka High Court lifted a sweeping gag order that a city court had issued over reporting on the Dharmasthala burials.

A TVS and TAFE heir

Lakshmi Venu holds senior roles across both sides of her family's industrial holdings. Besides her post at TAFE, she is managing director of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd., the TVS group auto components maker. She holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Warwick in Britain.

Her father, Venu Srinivasan, 73, is chairman emeritus of TVS Motor Co., the Chennai-based maker of motorcycles and scooters, which he led for more than three decades and built into one of India's biggest two-wheeler companies. Her brother, Sudarshan Venu, is managing director of TVS Motor.

Chennai-based TAFE sells tractors under the Massey Ferguson, Eicher and TAFE brands in India and abroad.

Forbes lists Venu Srinivasan and his family among India's billionaires, with a fortune drawn mainly from their stake in TVS Motor.