A criminal and civil defamation notice has been slapped by a Delhi lawyer on behalf of Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Congress spokesman and Member of Parliament Manish Tewari for making "baseless allegation" on Wednesday that he had a "benami" flat in Mumbai's Adarsh Society building embroiled in controversy.

The notice sent out by Advocate Bhupender Yadav on Thursday has sought an unconditional apology from Tiwari within 72 hours of receipt or face proceedings against him, both for criminal defamation punishable under Section 55 of the Indian Penal Code and for the tort of libel and damages for loss of reputation and exemplary damages.

The BJP headquarters on Saturday distributed the notice to mediapersons after it had reached Tiwari. It takes offence to the imputation in his statement that made headlines as "Gadkari owns Adarsh flat by proxy."

Referring to the statement that "Ajay Sancheti, whose only claim to membership of the BJP national executive is his proximity to Gadkari, has a benami flat in Adarsh Society in the name of his driver," the notice asserts that Gadkari has no connection with any flat in the society nor "relation direct or indirect with the owner or allottee of any apartment in the society."

Dubbing the imputations as false, baseless, malicious and malafide, the notice says Tiwari has harmed Gadkari's reputation with his scurrilous allegations.