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Gujarat-based Priya Blue Group, India’s biggest ship recycler by number of ships and tonnage, and its Dubai-based unit Best Oasis Ltd, which buys ships for recycling, have become the target of reports published online by rogue websites seeking to tarnish their reputation by alleging money laundering, sanctions breaches, and dealings involving sanctioned vessels.

Fake stories, allegations and reputation attacks are not new. For years, politicians and celebrities have been among the most visible targets.

What is changing is the target’s profile. The same tactics are increasingly reaching businesses and family-owned corporate groups that may not be widely known to the public but whose reputations are central to their ability to operate.

These attacks often follow a pattern. A story carrying serious allegations against a company appears online. It uses genuine details about a company, its owners, locations, transactions or business history, and then builds an unverified or misleading allegation around those facts.

Because the background information is accurate, the accusation can appear credible as well. The reader recognises the names and facts as genuine and may therefore assume that the accusation based on them has also been validated.

The pattern becomes more concerning when the same story is published by the same source across several unrelated websites in different countries, often under slightly altered headlines or bylines.

To an outside reader, this can create the impression of multiple independent reports, even though the articles may trace back to one person or content supplier. Many of these platforms have limited readership, little visible editorial structure and no easily identifiable newsroom or responsible editor, making it difficult to establish who verified the allegations or to obtain a meaningful response once the story is challenged.

The purpose of such an attack is to tarnish a company’s reputation, weaken trust in its name and disrupt or damage its business relationships and commercial standing. In today’s digital footprint, anything published online can become part of what customers, banks, investors and business partners find about a company, whether the information is true, false or never independently verified.

The case of Priya Blue Industries and Best Oasis, family-owned businesses led by Sanjay Mehta and his son Gaurav Mehta, shows how this pattern unfolds in practice.

Questions over credibility

Articles alleging money laundering, sanctions breaches, and dealings involving sanctioned vessels appeared on websites in several countries, including the US, the UK, and India.

Despite appearing under different publication names and in different parts of the world, the reports were strikingly similar. The allegations followed the same sequence, with identical text and photographs, and only the headlines changed.

There was no clearly identifiable journalist taking responsibility for the reporting. Some articles were attributed simply to a “Web Desk” or “Monitoring Desk”.

Official records and documents reviewed by ET Infra relating to the allegations did not show any criminal or money-laundering investigations against the group or its principals of the kind mentioned in the articles.

The material reviewed also did not establish that Priya Blue, Best Oasis, its promoter Sanjay Mehta and his son Gaurav Mehta were involved in the sanctions-related conduct alleged in the reports.

No evidence backing allegations

Holman Fenwick Willan LLP (HFW), an international law firm, has certified that there is no criminal record or ongoing criminal investigation against the Mehta family in Dubai.

Crawford Bayley & Co., a reputable Indian law firm, has certified that the Mehta family are not shareholders or directors of the recycling companies named in the articles alleging that they have recycled sanctioned ships.

Besides, the vessels named ‘Blue Lady’ and ‘Oriental Nicety’ were recycled by Priya Blue Industries strictly in accordance with permissions granted by the Supreme Court of India and relevant Indian authorities, including the Gujarat Maritime Board, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, according to Crawford Bayley & Co.

Business transactions involving the company are being carried out through the required commercial and regulatory process and executed through banking channels and in USD, reflecting full compliance, sources said.

A Police report submitted by the Ghogha Road Police Station, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, to the 4th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhavnagar, concluded that the “defamatory articles were baseless, malicious, and coordinated across multiple platforms to defame and harm the reputation of the company and its directors”.

There is no credible Indian or international media coverage, court filing, or regulatory reference linking any sanction violations or political cover-ups. Political name appears to have been used without basis to lend false credibility to fabricated allegations.

Independent investigations undertaken by Priya Blue and Best Oasis concluded that the news platforms are non-credible, untraceable, and clearly established for malicious reputational attacks.

The “experts” quoted in these articles are not identifiable individuals and appear to be entirely made up. There is no independent verification of their existence or qualifications on any platform.

Most rogue websites list no real contact person, nonfunctioning/invalid phone numbers, and, in some cases, no working email addresses.

The emails provided are generic (e.g., “info@”) and have received no acknowledgement of legal notices. Attempts to call or email them elicited no response.

Several websites claim addresses that do not exist or cannot be verified.

Some websites that the company’s counsel formally served legal notices on did not acknowledge or respond, underscoring a lack of accountability, while others openly admitted to publishing paid content for a mere $35 without any verification.

Some emails bounced because the addresses were not correct.

Many domains were activated only shortly before the defamatory articles were published. Several are hosted on generic blogging platforms or reseller-hosted servers, deliberately concealing ownership.

Lacking credibility

Taken together, these findings prove that the websites that published the articles are bogus, lacking editorial credibility, ownership transparency, or regulatory standing, and designed solely to circulate defamatory content.

Since they are anonymous, untraceable, and non-compliant with even the minimum requirements of legitimate media entities, there is no practical or legal pathway to take meaningful action against them.

Any content published by them carries no credibility or evidentiary value before banks, regulators, or courts, sources said.

The investigations provide conclusive proof that Priya Blue, Best Oasis and the other Group companies “operate with integrity, transparency, globally responsible ship recycling practices and unwavering commercial strength”.

Priya Blue and Best Oasis also believe that their “rivals” were behind the allegations and cooked up stories published on rogue websites, aimed at blocking fleet owners from selling vessels for recycling. It happened recently when a seller backed out of a finalised deal.