The documentary series shows an alcohol tycoon, an IT manager, a jeweler and the chairman of the Sahara group.
Netflix has released three episodes of its four-part series about Indian tycoons facing fraud allegations after a state court overturned an injunction, a lawyer for the world’s largest streaming service said on Monday.
The Bad Boy Billionaires: India documentary series about alcohol tycoon Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy of the Sahara Group, IT manager Ramalinga Raju and jeweler Nirav Modi was released last month.
However, Netflix suspended it by order of the Araria District Court in the eastern state of Bihar, where the Saharan group argued it would damage Roy’s reputation.
The court overturned that restraining order on Saturday, said Amit Shrivastava, a Netflix attorney.
Shrivastava declined to comment further and it was not immediately clear why the court had overturned his previous order. The official order has yet to be published.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.
Sahara said in a statement that the documentary was “misleading”, adding that it was “portrayed by some angry people who hold personal grudges against Sahara”.
Roy is currently on bail after being ordered by a court to repay billions of dollars to investors in a system found to be illegal. Roy denied the wrongdoing in the case, and his lawyer said he had already repaid investors.
The ongoing Bad Boy Billionaires dispute is among the most prominent that Netflix has faced in India, one of its key growth markets. Some of his shows have faced legal challenges and police complaints for profanity or insulting religious sentiments.
Netflix argued that stopping the show from being released “freezes freedom of speech” and hurts it financially.
On Monday, Netflix made three of the four episodes of the series available in its app for viewers in India. The episode about Raju was not available.
Raju, who confessed to a $ 1 billion accounting fraud more than a decade ago, has received a separate order from a court in South India. The case was heard on Monday and the hearing will continue on October 9, A Venkatesh, a lawyer for Raju, told Reuters.
The other two businessmen, Modi and Mallya, are currently in the UK and facing extradition proceedings.
Both have denied wrongdoing.
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