The antagonism between industrialist brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani seems to be increasing with every passing day. After the elder brother introduced a legal hassle in Anil Ambani’s merger talks with South Africa’s MTN telecom, the younger brother Anil too has now come up with a reason to throw a legal notice to Mukesh. Anil Ambani’s legal notice to Mukesh is based on an article published in The New York Times. In this article, the elder brother is reported to have made a comment which Anil's lawyers have termed as ‘libellous’ and ‘deserving of a clear, unambiguous and unqualified retraction and apology’ from both the elder Ambani and the concerned newspaper.

What precisely seems to have irked Anil Ambani is Mukesh Ambani’s statement in that article which mentions about Reliance's alleged intelligence gathering network. The elder brother was quoted saying by the newspaper that intelligence gathering network is now used by Anil Ambani’s company to gather information about the ‘vulnerabilities of the powerful, about the minutiae of bureaucrats schedules, about the activities of their competitors.’ 

It was about this alleged intelligence network that Mukesh Ambani was queried about by the newspaper and he responded that such activities were managed by his brother (Anil) before they separated. Since then Mukesh Ambani said that such activities have been demerged from his part of the company.