Former Infosys board members accuse Narayana Murthy of 'slander'

Former board members including R Seshasayee termed Narayana Murthy's attacks 'personal'

The mudslinging contest over the exit of board members from Infosys continues with three former executives lashing out at Narayana Murthy, accusing him of slander and personal attacks. Former chairman R Seshasayee along with two others hit back at Infosys founder Murthy for his comments against the then board members escalating the row further.

Independent directors Jeffrey Sean Lehman and John Etchemendy along with R Seshasayee who exited the board after Vishal Sikka's resignation and Nandan Nilekani's comeback deemed Murthy's statements "patently false and slanderous accusations" on Friday.

The board members said that they were "compelled to defend themselves," after Narayana Murthy's personal attacks. Vishal Sikka, the fourth board member who exited the company was not a signatory to Friday's statement. "Since my resignation from the board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," Seshasayee said in the statement, which was issued jointly with Etchemendy and Lehman.

Sheshasayee added that was "patently offensive" on Murthy's part to quote an anonymous whistleblower letter that alleged many things, which were subsequently proved baseless and false through multiple investigations, in order to give an impression to the audience that he lied to the shareholders.

The statement added that Seshasayee's conversations with Lehman and Roopa Kudva were taken out of context.

OneIndia News