Guwahati, Nov. 3 -- By Elisangela Mendonca, Spoorthy Raman

British officials explicitly advised government ministers to not engage formally with Vantara, the controversial zoo founded and led by Indian billionaire Anant Ambani, according to documents obtained by Mongabay and The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.

Ambani is the son of one of India's richest men, Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, a multinational petrochemical and telecommunications conglomerate.

Internal British government communications at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) show civil servants strongly cautioning against ministerial interactions with Vantara.

A central reason why the officials w...