Chetan Bhagat and the erstwhile princely state of Dumraon in Bihar, which slapped a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against the best-selling author, have reached an out-of-court settlement after he tendered an unconditional apology for “unintended confusion and misunderstanding” over the “fictional” references to the royal family in his book Half Girlfriend.

Chandra Vijay Singh slapped the defamation suit in 2016 claiming the male members of the family were maliciously portrayed as alcoholics and gamblers in Half Girlfriend. He cited “express and implied references” to his family in Bhagat’s book, first published in 2014, that, he said, were “false and derogatory in nature”.