KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress MP and party's youth wing chief Abhishek Banerjee on Monday served legal notice on BJP's new entrant Mukul Roy for making "malicious and defamatory" statements against him and demanded an unconditional apology within 48 hours.
Roy had on Friday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "Biswa Bangla" was nothing but a company owned by her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
"We on behalf of our clients ... do hereby call upon you to: a) Forthwith cease and desist from making or circulating any defamatory comments, statement and/or causing publication of the same in any media against our client; b) Issue an unconditional apology within 48 hours in a press conference retracting the false, virulent and mala-fide statements made against our client," Banerjee's lawyer said in the notice.
The legal notice also mentioned that Roy had "deliberately levied (sic) various allegations against Banerjee" and the statements were "misleading and false".
Refuting Roy's comments relating to Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation, two senior West Bengal government officials had on Saturday said the company was wholly owned by the state government.
State's Additional Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha had said: "The Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation was incorporated in December 31, 2014 and its share holders are three government officials. It is not a private entity. Its paid-up capital was paid by the state MSME (Micro, Small, medium Enterprise) and Textiles Department."
He also mentioned that the Biswa Bangla logo was created by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and, in 2014, she transferred the logo to the government with an agreement.
With regard to multiple applications for trademark registration of the Biswa Bangla logo, the official said an applicant -- CJ Associates, on behalf of Abhishek Banerjee -- had withdrawn its application and the withdrawal was accepted by the Registrar of Trade Marks.
Reiterating the government position, state Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya had also said that the Chief Minister, in a private capacity, had created the logo and handed it over to the government.
However, Roy, who was one of the founding members of Trinamool Congress, on Sunday claimed that the documents suggested the Biswa Bangla mark was wholly owned by Abhishek Banerjee.
"In a trade mark journal published by the Trade Marks authority of the Government of India, on May 8, 2017, the Biswa Bangla mark is shown as wholly owned by Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal," he said.
Roy, who sent a letter to two senior officers of the state government for making "incorrect statements", said he was ready to face the legal battle on the subject.