Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 12 (IANS): Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor Saturday filed a Rs.10 crore defamation suit against The Sunday Indian magazine for publishing an article insinuating that he has black money stashed away in Swiss banks.

Tharoor, a former minister of state for external affairs, has appointed Kochi-based legal firm of Sherrif Associates to represent him. The firm has sent the defamation notice to the editor in charge and two others officials of the magazine.

"In the article that appeared in the issue on their website on Nov 3rd, even though the name Tharoor was not used, it had all indications that the person who was mentioned as having unaccounted money in Swiss bank was Tharoor. It also mentioned that Tharoor used his influence to see that this news did not appear in the media here," said a press release issued from Tharoor's office here.

The lawyers' notice sent to the magazine says that after the magazine came out, Tharoor was flooded with enquiries from friends and well-wishers to find out whether there was any merit in the report. This had also dented to his image.

The notice also says that Tharoor has no account in any Swiss bank and all his assets have been declared before the Election Commission and also to the prime minister.

The maggazine said that three MPs allegedly had unaccounted money stashed away in Swiss banks and one of them was from Kerala.