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."
The notice sent to Patra stated that he had, in a tweet, claimed that the vehicle allegedly involved in liquor smuggling belonged to the Youth Congress president.
In a statement, the IYC said Patra, in a tweet on Tuesday, levelled "imaginary" allegations of illegal liquor being smuggled in Srinivas's car, which has been given permission for essential services.
The tweet was similar to another tweet by Malviya.
The television channel ran several news items regarding the said tweets without cross-checking the claim made by the BJP leaders, the notice said.
It is pertinent to mention that the car mentioned in the tweets and the news broadcast by the channel does not belong to Srinivas.
The IYC statement alleged that the tweets aimed to malign the image of its president and halt the social work being carried out by the organisation across the country.
The notices warned of civil and criminal proceedings if the "defamatory" news and tweets were not withdrawn and a public apology was not tendered.
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