Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Srinivas BV sent legal notices to BJP leaders Sambit Patra and Amit Malviya as well as a television news channel on Tuesday for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of liquor smuggling.
The notices sought a "public apology" from Patra, a national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its IT cell head Malviya and the news channel for "lowering the image" of Srinivas and defaming him.
The BJP took a dig at the Congress on Tuesday, after its youth wing functionaries were caught allegedly smuggling liquor, saying this has exposed the opposition party's "character".
Srinivas dubbed the arrest a "conspiracy", which, he claimed, was aimed at defaming his organisation's relief work to help poor people during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.
In a tweet, he also warned of legal action against those defaming him.
According to the Delhi Police, Shravan Rao (34) and Manish (24) were arrested from a spot near the Delhi-Gurgaon border on Sunday night with illicit liquor.
Patra said while lakhs of BJP workers are busy bringing food to the needy during the lockdown, "national office-bearers of the Congress are smuggling expensive liquor" into the national capital.
The legal notices sent by Srinivas's lawyers stated, "It is put to your notice that my client (Srinivas) is not involved in any such activity and the said vehicle does not belong to my client."