Is the below news true? Can a company terminate an employee (or even without terminating) and restrict searching of new job? If this type of restrictions are allowed legally then how remaining 9 companies will hire an employee from Wipro? https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/wipro-executives-cannot-join-cognizant-9-other-rival-firms-for-12-months-after-stepping-down-101704509121038.html

this is common, not only in IT industry but in other domains also.  This is not only limited to Wipro but the other nine companies also have similar clause in their agreement.  This is part of anti-poaching strategy. This is important because many times these companies are provided offshore services to same client and with resource they can lose the training advantage.
Also many times employees roam around in the market and collect multiple offers.

I believe you can legally, have the restriction on the offer to not work with similar companies in the industry for a set period, but should pay the employee for not working (for the set period) and the other company hiring will have to wait to get them on a payroll (unit the set period expires). 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.peoplematters.in/amp-business-from-legal-notices-to-lawsuits-what-went-wrong-between-cognizant-infosys-and-wipro-39857