The newspaper had made "wild allegations" on the educational qualifications of Rahul Gandhi.
Congress on Wednesday served a legal notice to a Chennai-based newspaper for publishing what it called as "wild allegations and sly insinuations" on the educational qualifications of party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
"Deeply distressed by your wild allegations, sly insinuations and self-serving innuendos, all premised on complete falsehoods and steeped in malice, a notice is being issued," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters at the AICC headquarters here.
The legal notice has been settled by Singhvi himself, who is also a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, against the New Indian Express for questioning the M Phil degree of Gandhi in Development Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Quoting a letter from the University, which stated that Gandhi was a student at the institution as a member of the Trinity College from October 1994 to July 1995 and was awarded an M Phil in Development Studies in 1995, the notice said it is clear beyond doubt that he (Gandhi) received the degree.
"Instead of verifying anything from our client, you wrote the subject article falsely, recklessly and with complete disregard for truth, alleging that our client (Gandhi) did not complete his degree," the notice said.
Significantly, Gandhi himself had in a press conference on April 13 said that he will serve a legal notice to the newspaper for writing the article.
Accusing the newspaper of bias, the notice said that it was unfortunate that such an issue was brought up at the time of elections.
"Our client is concerned with the systematic attempts that you have been making to defame him and his family from time to time by false, malicious, scurrilous and defamatory personal allegations," it said.
The notice gives details of how Gandhi got admitted in St Stephen's College, Delhi University in 1989 and then went to Harvard, the US, for a Bachelor's degree after completing first year in Delhi.
It said that due to security threats, Gandhi, relocated, amid tight security, secrecy and anonymity and completed the BA degree from Rollins College, Florida in the US in 1994.
The legal notice said that the newspaper has succeeded in defaming Gandhi at the time of polls which has caused him "grave and irreparable harm".
Demanding an unconditional apology, the legal notice also asked the newspaper and its website to clarify the errors.
It said that if the offending articles are taken off the website forthwith and a clarification published as mentioned in the legal notice, Gandhi may reconsider his options.
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