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In a hunt for material to help him abandon the contentious $44 billion Twitter buyout deal, Elon Musk has now knocked on the doors of co-founder and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. 

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AFP reports that as per records made public, the Tesla CEO has served Dorsey with a legal order that requires him to give Musk any communications or documents pertaining to the April takeover agreement. 

Watch | Elon Musk says Twitter lied about spam accounts, challenges CEO Parag Agrawal to public debate

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The subpoena also asks him to provide details on fake or spam accounts or the methodology used by Twitter to determine the number of active users. It seeks everything Dorsey may have regarding the subjects going back to January 2019.

For weeks now, Musk's attorneys have been sending subpoenas to several individuals to obtain their records or take their depositions.

Also read | Elon Musk embroils ad tech firms in Twitter bot account controversy

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These individuals range from those involved management of Twitter to employees that look after the controversial bot account numbers to even third-party players that have nothing directly to do with the social media giant.

Musk accuses Twitter of fraud, alleging that the firm has "misled" him about the number of accounts that are actually spam or automated "bots" instead of real people.

Also read | Elon Musk wants to question Twitter employees who count bots

But, Twitter is sticking by its estimate of five per cent. As AFP puts it the social media giant accuses the Tesla boss of "contriving a story to escape a merger agreement that he no longer found attractive."

The legal battle is intensifying as trial preparations for Delaware's Chancery Court, which specialises in challenging, high-stakes commercial disputes, have started for an October trial.

(With inputs from agencies)

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