Aditya Kalra & Abhirup Roy

NEW DELHI (Reuters), – Amazon India has requested that India’s Antitrust Regulator revoke its approval of Future Retail’s $3.4 Billion sale of Indian retail assets to Reliance. It claimed it had been “illegally obtained”, in violation of an order suspending this deal. Reuters received a letter from Reuters.

According to Amazon.com Inc’s letter to the Competition Commission of India last week, the approval of the deal was “null in the eyes of the law”, as the order of an arbitrator was still in effect.

The battle between two of the world’s richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Reliance Industries Ltd boss Mukesh Ambani, marks a contest for preeminence in India’s booming, nearly trillion-dollar retail market.

The winner in the fight for Future Retail Ltd, India’s second-largest retailer and Amazon’s estranged local partner, will get pole position in the race to meet the daily needs of more than a billion people.

Reliance, Amazon Future Group and Future Group did not reply to our requests for comment.

Future claimed that the suspension order of an arbitrator was invalid, but Indian courts declined to reverse it.

Reliance’s oil-to–telecom conglomerate would face a serious setback if it agrees to the unreported letter.

An injunction was issued by a Singapore arbitration judge against Amazon’s deal last year. Future is alleged to have violated contracts which prevented Future from selling its assets to entities such as Reliance.

However, the CCI approved the deal later.

Future misled CCI and requested approval for the deal. Amazon wrote Wednesday in a letter calling the injunction “a brazen attempt to undermine the rule of law.”

Amazon requested that the CCI hold a hearing personally to hear its case.

Amazon has also filed the letter to contest allegations it may have misrepresented facts or concealed information when seeking antitrust clearance from Future Group for its 2019 deal.

Amazon has thus far used these contracts successfully to block Future’s deal with Reliance.