Bharatiya Janata Party IT department head Amit Malviya has sent a legal notice to a Kolkata-based lawyer for making "false and defamatory allegations" against him, seeking Rs 10 crore as civil damages for causing "mental harassment" and an apology for it.
The Congress, meanwhile, demanded at a press conference that the BJP sack Malviya as the head of its IT department over what it claimed were allegations of "sexual exploitation". The opposition party demanded an independent inquiry against Malviya.
When contacted, Malviya made no direct comment on the allegations but referred to a legal notice he has sent to Santanu Sinha, who has made the allegations.
In the notice, Malviya's lawyer said Sinha, in a post on Facebook, made "some false and defamatory allegation" with an intention to harm his client's reputation.
Sinha told PTI, "My Facebook post was not aimed at anyone. I wanted to question those state BJP leaders who uses dubious means to please their Delhi bosses so that they can hold on to their posts here. My Facebook post has been misconstrued."
"I stick to my stand on whatever I have said. I have neither withdrawn my post nor am I going to budge before any threat," he said.
"I have sought time to reply to the legal notice. In the meantime if they initiate any civil or criminal proceedings, I will reply accordingly," Sinha said.
In his legal notice through his lawyer, Malviya sought a public apology from Sinha and asked him to take down his "defamatory statement".
"Further, I call upon you to pay a sum of Rs 10 crore as civil damages for the mental harassment/agony and loss of reputation caused to my client...vide your Facebook post dated 07.06.2024. We reserve the right to initiate appropriate civil proceedings against you including seeking attachment of all assets," the legal notice to Sinha said.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar dubbed the allegations against Malviya as "baseless" and politically motivated. Majumdar hinted that the entire controversy might be a "TMC handiwork".
The TMC, however, declined to react to the allegations levelled by Majumdar.
"The BJP, to set its own house in order, is levelling allegations against us. The TMC leaders have tweeted about a Facebook post which is in the public domain," TMC leader Santanu Sen said.
