Kolkata lawyer claims his statement about Malviya, Bengal BJP 'misinterpreted'

KOLKATA: Kolkata-based lawyer Santanu Sinha, who was served a legal notice for making “false and defamatory allegations” against BJP’s IT head Amit Malviya and the party’s West Bengal unit, on Tuesday claimed that his statements were “misinterpreted”.

Sinha also said he was not withdrawing the social media post but expressed “heartfelt sorrow” if it hurt Malviya.

“If my post hurts Mr Malviya and/or undermines my party for such misinterpretation and edited version, I do express my heartfelt sorrow for the same. Since I have not written anything untoward in my post, with the mission to malign, I am not withdrawing the post, the bone of contention,” he said in a Facebook post.

When contacted, Sinha said this is not an “apology” but an attempt to clear the air on the entire controversy as to how his statements were “misinterpreted”.

BJP IT department head Amit Malviya has sent a legal notice to Sinha for making “false and defamatory allegations” against him and demanded an apology for it.

In the legal notice, Malviya’s lawyer said Sinha, in a post on Facebook, made “some false and defamatory allegations” with an intention to harm his client’s reputation