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Bengal man Santanu Sinha, who allegedly accused BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya of 'sexually exploiting' women, has denied the charges and accused the Congress of spreading 'fake propaganda'.
In a statement, Sinha said that he was 'astonished' by the allegations and that he had 'never made any such accusation'.
He said that his Facebook post, which was cited as evidence of the allegations, was 'misinterpreted' and that he had only expressed his concern that Malviya could be drawn into a 'honeytrap' by unscrupulous leaders of the party.
Sinha said that he was a 'Sangha Swayam Sevak', former State Secretary of ABVP, and contestant in the State Assembly election and in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election.
He said that he 'did not want the Bharatiya Janata Party and its office bearers to get undermined in any manner by misinterpretation of his post'.
Sinha went on to allege that the Congress had a 'bitter experience' of such honeytraps in the state and that cases against party leaders including Kailash Vijayvargiya, Siddhartha Nath Sing, Pradip Joshi and Shibprasad were still pending in court.
He said that he had 'never tried to malign' Malviya and that he was 'not withdrawing the post, the bone of contention'.
Notably, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya on Monday sued Sinha for Rs 10 crore over defamation.
In the legal notice, Malviya sought the removal of Sinha's 'false and derogatory' post from the social media and gave him 72 hours to provide an explanation.
The legal notice said that if no or inadequate response was received, 'appropriate legal action will be followed and taken to a logical conclusion'.
The allegations against Malviya come at a time when the BJP is facing a number of challenges in West Bengal.
The party lost the state assembly elections in May 2021 and has since been struggling to regain its footing.
The allegations against Malviya could further damage the party's reputation and make it more difficult to win back voters in the state.
Source: Bengal man denies making sexual exploitation charge against BJP's Amit Malviya