Bengali man denies sexual exploitation allegation against BJP member Amit Malviya and condemns Congress

West Bengal resident Santanu Sinha on Tuesday withdrew allegations of sexual exploitation of women against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT chief Amit Malviya. Sinha alleged that Malviya had sexually exploited women during his stay in Bengal.

In a long Facebook post, Santanu Sinha called the Congress party the “evilest” and “most corrupt political party”. He accused the old eminence of running a “hate campaign” against Malviya and the BJP.

He further said that his previous post did not mention the alleged sexual exploitation of women by the BJP’s IT department head. “Rather, I expressed my fear that Mr. Malviya is being lured into a honey trap by the unscrupulous party leaders to hold on to his post despite such a debacle in the recently held election,” he said.

On Monday, the Congress demanded Malviya’s sacking after Sinha’s post on June 7 alleging “sexual exploitation” went viral. Congress’s Supriya Shrinate said in a press conference that an independent inquiry into the incident would be possible only if Malviya was removed from office.

He further mentioned that he is a ‘Sangha Swayam Sevak’, former state secretary of ABVP and a candidate in the state assembly and Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections.

The RSS, however, has said Sinha is not and never has been associated with the organisation in any official capacity, India Today reported, citing sources. He added that he did not want the Bharatiya Janata Party and its office-bearers to be weakened in any way by any misinterpretation of his office.

“I want to send a clear message that the post was not aimed at defaming Mr. Malviya but was meant to serve as a warning not to fall into a honey trap first brought to light by Mr. Tathagata Roy, former state President and former Governor of Tripura, with the phrase Kamini Kanchan,” he added.

Referring to similar allegations against senior BJP politicians such as Kailash Vijayavargiya, Pradip Joshi and Siddharth Nath Sing, he said the party had had “bitter experiences” with honey traps in the past, adding that many cases were still pending in court.

He also claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee had repeatedly “threatened” to release the honey trap clips. “No one from the state BJP ever tried to find out the meaning of the post, but they played a dubious role.”

He also said that the legal notice sent by Malviya was circulated in the media to put pressure on him and to divert responsibility for the BJP’s failure in the West Bengal Lok Sabha elections. Santanu Sinha further alleged that West Bengal BJP’s de facto president Jagannath Chattopadhyay was behind the circulating of the legal notice.

“If my post hurts Mr Malaviya and/or harms my party due to such misinterpretation and edited version, then I would like to express my deep regret for the same. Since I have not written anything inappropriate in my post and had no intention to defame anyone, I am not withdrawing the post, the bone of contention,” Sinha insisted.

Meanwhile, Amit Malviya on Monday sued Sinha for defamation for Rs 10 crore. In the notice, Malviya demanded the removal of Sinha’s “false and derogatory” post from social media and gave him 72 hours to give an explanation.

“If no response or an inadequate response is received, appropriate legal steps will be initiated and brought to a logical conclusion. An appropriate statement will then be issued,” the legal notice states.