India, June 8 -- The West Bengal government has filed a case against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Koustav Bagchi at the Calcutta City Sessions Court over his alleged statements against chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

According to the court order, a copy of which was seen by HT, Bagchi has "repeatedly made derogatory comments and defamatory statements against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee."

Bagchi, however, argued that whatever he mentioned is from a book written by retired Indian administrative service officer and former All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Dipak Ghosh, who died in March this year. "The book is not banned. I mentioned some of its contents. I will prove in court that the charges hold no water," Bagchi to...