Friday, January 6 2006 16:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Politburo member Anil Biswas has sought Rs 45 crore as damages from Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury in a defamation suit filed before the Calcutta High Court today (Jan 6, 2005).

Claiming that Chowdhury had made serious allegations against him in a television interview, Biswas' lawyer moved the court of Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta claiming Rs 45 crore as damages in a civil defamation suit against the MP.

Biswas' counsel Saibal Ganguly presented the plaint before Justice Sengupta for admission.

Chowdhury, MP from Baharampur constituency in West Bengal, had allegedly made defamatory comments against Biswas, who is also CPI(M)'s State Secretary here, in an interview in New Delhi to the Bengali television channel on November nine.

The MP had claimed in the interview that Biswas had stashed away huge sums of money in an American bank.

Biswas has already filed a criminal defamation case against Chowdhury on November 14 before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, in which Chowdhury has already obtained bail.

The Congress MP was in custody for several days in connection with a double murder case of a restauranteur and his son and was granted bail in that case by the High Court on December 23.