India on Wednesday dismissed as fake news a letter being circulated in Bangladesh claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi over the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya title dispute case.

The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said it was an attempt to undermine the friendship between the people of India and Bangladesh. “We strongly condemn those responsible for deliberately spreading such fake and malicious news, to divide communities, create disharmony,” Kumar said in a tweet.

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The Indian High Commission in Dhaka also issued a statement and called the letter “completely fake and malicious”.

“It has come to the notice of the High Commission that a letter said to have been written by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to Chief Justice of India is being circulated in the local media,” the commission said. “It is intended to mislead people in Bangladesh and create social disharmony. It is most egregious and wrong on part of those who are deliberately circulating fake and incorrect information to create misunderstanding about India in the public domain.”

The letter claims Modi congratulated Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer. It said their verdict was “a stupendous contribution to Hindu Rashtra”. “Hindus will always be grateful to you and your team for your commendable and memorable decision, which will make a new history for Hindu Rashtra,” the letter added.

In an unanimous verdict on November 9, the Supreme Court said a trust should be set up by the Centre within three months to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The Muslims, the court had said, should be given five acres plot elsewhere in Ayodhya for the construction of a new mosque as relief for the “unlawful destruction” of the Babri Masjid in 1992.