Ranjit Chandra ordered to pay $1.6M to cover CBC's legal fees in libel lawsuit

A judge in Ontario has ordered a former Memorial University professor to pay the CBC more than $1.6 million to cover legal fees in a libel lawsuit.

The decision comes after Ranjit Kumar Chandra lost a lawsuit against the CBC earlier this year.

• Memorial University called 'real villain' as BMJ ditches Chandra research
• R.K. Chandra's infant formula study withdrawn by medical journal

Chandra sued CBC, following a three-part documentary on The National in 2006, called The Secret Life of Dr. Chandra.

The documentary reported that research published by Chandra in leading medical journals was fraudulent.

Chandra originally sought $137 million for libel and damages from CBC.

In July, following a 56-day trial, a jury in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed Chandra's claim that the CBC had wrongfully defamed him.

The jury concluded the broadcast report was defamatory "given the natural and ordinary meaning of the words it contained," but also found the words used were true.

In addition, the jury dismissed Chandra's claims for invasion of privacy.

The judge said in his decision Chandra "played a high stakes game. The phrase 'live by the sword, die by the sword' comes to mind."

In the decision, the judge said "in the end, he failed abjectly."

Last month, the prominent medical journal BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal, retracted Chandra's 1989 study on the effect of infant formula on the incidents of allergies.

The BMJ called the case a "major failure of scientific governance."

A former editor in chief with the BMJ said Memorial University "failed badly" and was the "real villain" in the case.