Apologise in 48 hours or we'll meet in court, Abhishek warns Mukul

Kolkata: Senior Trinamool Congress leader and MP Abhishek Banerjee has sent a legal notice to Mukul Roy, asking him to tender an unconditional apology for his " slanderous , unscrupulous, dubious, fictitious and vindictive statements" against the former at a public rally in the city on November 10. Banerjee warned Roy, who recently defected from the TMC to the BJP, that he would file both civil and criminal suits against him if he does not get a reply in 48 hours.

At a public meeting organised by the BJP on November 10, Roy had said "The football that happened, what was it? Biswa cup football sponsored Biswa Bangla. Biswa. Bangla is not a government organisation. I have the papers. Biswa Bangla is a company and the name of the owner of the company is Abhishek Banerjee of 30B, Harish Chatterjee Street."

In the same speech, Roy referred to the TMC mouthpiece Jago Bangla, claiming, "This is a company and its owner's name is Abhishek Banerjee, address, 30B, Harish Chatterjee Street."

Banerjee has dismissed these allegations. His legal notice reads, "Our client does not own nor is a shareholder of any company that has either "Biswa Bangla" or "Jago Bangla" in its name as claimed by you. Our client has been made aware through publicly available information that the company Biswa Bangla Marketing Private Ltd has its shareholders, namely, (1) West Bengal State Export Promotion Society (II) Rajiva Sinha (III) Mahua Banerjee. The directors of Biswa Bangla Marketing Private Ltd are (I) Rajiva Sinha (II) Rudra Chatterjee (III) Subal Chandra Panja (IV) Harshvardhan Neotia (V) Mahua Banerjee. Therefore, your statements are false. Similarly, our client is neither a director nor a shareholder in Jago Bangla Media Private Ltd."

The letter further reads, "The idea that our client has somehow sponsored the Under 17 FIFA Football World Cup is laughable, false, misleading and malicious. Our client does not in any manner benefit financially from any use of the Trinamool Congress symbol and any suggestion to the contrary is malicious, defamatory, false and deliberately misleading."