The Lok Sabha ethics committee on Friday said it has received businessman Darshan Hiranandani’s affidavit, which alleges that TMC MP Mahua Moitra took bribes from him for asking questions against business tycoon Gautam Adani in Parliament. Panel chief Vinod Sonkar said the matter will be thoroughly probed as using an MP’s parliamentary login is a crime.
“I received a complaint related to Mahua Moitra. In this regard, a meeting of the ethics committee has been called on October 26. A notice has been sent to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to appear before the committee on October 26 in connection with his allegations of bribery. A detailed examination will be done by the committee in this matter and a conclusion will then be reached…” Sonkar said.
According to news agency PTI, Hiranandani admitted to using Moitra’s parliamentary login to ask questions targeting Adani after state-owned behemoth Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) booked capacity at the Gujarat-based conglomerate’s Dhamra LNG import facility in Odisha and not at his firm’s planned facility.
“If someone has used MP’s login, then it is a very serious offence. We will go through all the evidences on October 26 when the complainants have been asked to be present with proof,” Sonkar told News18, adding that action will depend on evidence provided by both sides.
“This has happened for the first time in Parliament’s history. This is a very unique and serious case,” he added.
A bench headed by Justice Sachin Datta, meanwhile, heard the defamation suit filed by Moitra and posted the matter for hearing on October 31.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s lawyer told the court that a businessman has circulated an affidavit on Thursday (October 19), stating that he had given expensive gifts to the petitioner. Moitra’s lawyer replied saying the TMC MP is a public figure “with standing in the society”. “Unfortunately, she was friends with Jai Anant Dehadrai,” the counsel added.
After the hearing, sources told News18 that Moitra’s lawyer, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, has withdrawn as he had mediated between Moitra and Dehadrai.
Amid the action, Moitra wished people “Shubho Shasti” and said she is “enjoying Durga Puja” in Nadia. She further reacted to Sonkar’s statements and said, “I welcome answering questions to CBI and Ethics Committee (which has absolute majority of BJP members) if and when they call me. I have neither time nor interest to feed a circus trial or answer BJP trolls,” the TMC MP posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The TMC MP had approached the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, seeking to restrain Dubey, an advocate and several social media platforms and media houses from posting, circulating or publishing any alleged fake and defamatory content against her.
Dubey has accused Moitra of taking “bribes” from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament and urged Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to form an “inquiry committee” to look into the charges against her. Citing a letter he received from Dehadrai, Moitra’s estranged partner and lawyer, Dubey said he has shared “irrefutable” evidence of bribes exchanged between the TMC leader and a businessman.
In his letter to the Lok Sabha speaker, Dubey claimed 50 out of 61 questions she asked in Lok Sabha until recently were focused on the Adani Group, the business conglomerate which the TMC MP has often accused of malpractices, more so after it was at the receiving end of a critical report of short-selling from Hindenburg.
In her plea in the high court, Moitra denied the allegations and claimed that they were designed to damage her reputation in relation to the false allegations made by Dubey and Dehadrai against her for alleged exchange of bribe for asking questions in Parliament.
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