The online feud between hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as TheLiverDoc, and Fittr founder Jitendra Chouksey has taken a legal turn. Both sides are now sharing their emails publicly, and Chouksey has dared Philips to take him to court.
Philips, a senior consultant hepatologist at Rajagiri Hospital in Kerala's Aluva, had publicly questioned the science behind Fittr's products and practices.
Chouksey responded with an Instagram post listing 10 questions for Philips, captioned with a jibe asking whether the “anti-quack modern medicine crusader” would answer them. The questions touched on a 2009 criminal case involving Philips's family, a hospital joint venture, a study Philips was part of, his medical college admission and his promotion of weight-loss drugs.
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The Notice And The Refusal
Philips's General Affairs Team sent Chouksey a pre-legal notice demanding that the post be removed. It argued that statements framed as questions can still be defamatory under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Chouksey refused. In an email, which he shared on Instagram, he said he would remove the post only if Philips took down all his posts and tweets about him. He said he had "simply asked questions", just as Philips had done to him, and that his questions were "rooted in publicly available data including court documents".
Philips's team hit back with a point-by-point reply. It said removing a defamatory post was “not something to be traded”, and that court records in the 2009 case do not name Philips as a party. It added that reports on recent Enforcement Directorate searches at Kerala hospitals do not say Rajagiri Hospital or Philips was implicated.
The team also accused Chouksey of naming Philips's parents and disclosing their earnings, and warned that repeating the claims would be treated as evidence of malice.
‘Quarter Of The Whole Story'
Philips shared the full exchange on X. He said Chouksey had met his questions on science “with malice instead”, and alleged that the post had doxxed and harassed his family. He said Chouksey had shown only a “quarter of the whole story”.
‘We Can Skip The Foreplay'
Chouksey has since replied again, saying he would not read the team's "long emails". "How about you send me the actual legal notice and let's go from there? Or maybe skip that and file a defamation complaint and let's go from there," he wrote. "We can skip the foreplay."
He used the last line as the caption for his Instagram post sharing the email. Reactions were split. Some users mocked Philips's team, while one called Chouksey's original post an “ad hominem response” that had strayed into personal issues.
Philips has not yet responded publicly to Chouksey's latest email.
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