Ajit Kumar Agarwal, the lessee of Kanchaan View tea garden in Darjeeling who also manages six other tea gardens in the region, has filed an Rs 50 crore defamation case against Ajoy Edwards, the president of the Hamro Party, at a Calcutta court.

“I filed the money suit at the court of the 2nd civil judge (senior division) at Alipore on Saturday,” Agarwal said.

The defamation case centres on Edwards’s decision to sit on a hunger strike in April to back the “workers and the residents” of the tea garden agitating against tourist infrastructure at the garden.

Edwards alleged that the interest of “workers and residents of the garden” were being overlooked in this tourism drive and had written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to cancel the lease of the garden.

The case came after Edwards lost the GTA Sabha polls.

Agarwal, the chairman of Terai Group of Companies, also alleged there were “illegal encroachers” in his tea garden against whom he filed cases.

Agarwal, who has given documents to the court to prove that his net worth is around Rs 100 crore, alleged that Edwards tried to prejudice the public against him.

“The defendant (Edwards) having knowledge of the disputes between plaintiff (Agarwal) and the illegal encroachers is protesting to create an illusion of support to illegal encroachers in order to gain local support for his political benefits” Agarwal alleged.

Kanchaan View tea garden, some 7km from Darjeeling town, affords a clear view of the Kanchenjungha.

Agarwal has been looking to set up a five star hotel and other amenities in a part of the tea garden since 2007, much before the state government recently decided to allow tea gardens to use 15 per cent of non-plantation area for tea tourism and allied business.

Investment being mulled at the garden is Rs 300 crore.

The next date of hearing has been fixed on August 8.

Apart from the garden lease, the state government had also provided a long term lease of 16 acres of land of the garden to Kanchaan View Resorts Pvt Ltd (to set up five star hotel and other allied tourism activities) for a salami payment of Rs 24.5 lakh and an annual rent of Rs 7,766 for a period of 99 years on February 19, 2020.