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"We have vetted the legal notice by the top law officers and the same will be sent to Mathew Samuel who made the remarks against the home ministry at Trivandrum on March 14," top government sources told PTI.
The legal notice comes close on the heels of an apology issued by Tehelka.com chief Tarun Tejpal distancing himself from the statement made by Samuel who had claimed that the news website would soon come out with bigger disclosures.
Home ministry sources said the apology letter from Tehelka was 'hand delivered to the home minister.
They said the total video footage with them in this issue did contain views of certain arms dealers against the home ministry but these were edited out.
News reports quoting Tejpal said Samuel had 'shot off his mouth' and made 'random allegations'.
The government sources said, "We have made it clear that the apology should come immediately from Samuel failing which appropriate legal proceedings would be initiated against him."
"This kind of loose talk resorted to by the website's reporter without any basis, as was confirmed by the Tehelka CEO, could not be overlooked as the matter pertained to national security," the sources said.
"The government's silence would encourage further attempts of this nature from other quarters," they said.
The home ministry on March 14 dismissed as 'mischievous and malicious' claims that a commission of Rs 3.25 billion had been paid to its officials in a Rs 13 billion deal for border fencing and communication systems.
The ministry was reacting to remarks attributed to Samuel that another set of video tapes would provide concrete proof of commission paid to its officials in the deal with an Israel-based firm.
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