Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony has issued a legal notice to CPM state committee member K P Udayabhanu, accusing him of making false and defamatory statements against him on Facebook.

The defamation suit filed by advocate Abraham Mathew Panachamoottil alleged that Udayabhanu made "reckless, frivolous, groundless and highly defamatory" allegations against him through Facebook posts and Facebook Live videos on January 27 and February 8.

According to the notice, Udayabhanu claimed that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft had found that the Tantri, an accused in the gold theft case, had invested around ₹2.5 crore in a finance firm owned by N M Raju. He further stated that "public opinion" was that Anto Antony had taken around ₹2.5 crore from the same firm and urged the SIT to probe the alleged financial dealings between Antony and the Tantri.

In a separate allegation, Udayabhanu said that Raju himself had claimed at a press conference that Antony received ₹2.5 crore from him but returned only ₹20 lakh. He also alleged that when Raju later faced financial difficulties, his wife and daughter approached Antony seeking the return of the money, but were turned away, the notice said.

The notice maintained that Udayabhanu failed to substantiate any of his allegations with evidence and that the statements were made with the intent to damage Antony's reputation among the general public.