While there now is talk of Mr Bajoria's letter to CSE suddenly being discovered by the exchange authorities and what impact that may have on the case, the company's contention is that it changes nothing in the matter since, under the takeover regulations, the acquirer has to inform the company and it is the company which then informs the stock exchange.

The company has also made it clear that it will not write to its shareholders about the raging battle between the company and the jute baron from Calcutta. Highly placed company sources told The Financial Express on Monday that Bombay Dyeing does not take Mr Bajoria as its shareholder at all, and, therefore, there is no need for it to write to its shareholders about what it is doing to counter Mr Bajoria. "When we are not even considering him a shareholder in the company, why should we bother to make it an issue and tell our shareholders what we are doing?" the officials said.

They said the company had, therefore, petitioned the Company Law Board (CLB) for rectification of the register of members and had also secured interim reliefs.

Even while the markets regulator Sebi is upset with Bombay Dyeing for putting pressure on it, Bombay Dyeing seems in no mood to relent either.

Corporate sources close to the developments said there was now a growing feeling that Sebi should have acted much quicker and dealt with the issue, rather than letting it linger for so long. "When the company has written to the regulator some months ago, what was happening for so long?"

Bombay Dyeing has also been foxed about why Sebi has not yet replied to its basic query whether the copy of the August 4 letter Mr Bajoria wrote to Sebi saying he had 12.79 per cent in the company, constitutes an official intimation under the takeover code. Sebi has so far been silent on the issue, which, sources tracking the case say, may be because accepting the argument will dilute the takeover regulations which make it clear that there has to be a direct intimation to the company by the acquirer when the 5 per cent limit is crossed.

Those tracking the developments feel the regulator needs to act quickly in the matter, as the stockmarkets are clearly being impacted by the open media war which is currently on between the two sides.