CBI gets Lokpal nod to file chargesheet against Moitra in cash-for-query case

The Lokpal has given the green signal to the CBI to submit a chargesheet against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in connection with the alleged cash-for-query case in the court within four weeks.

Subsequently, the CBI started the legal process against the Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal. The full Bench of the Lokpal held a meeting on November 12 and took the decision to give the green signal to the CBI to submit the chargesheet in the court.

The Lokpal on November 15 asked the agency to submit a copy of the chargesheet to it.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had demanded a CBI probe against Mahua, alleging that she had asked questions in the House in exchange for cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to mount an attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.

It was alleged that Mahua had indulged in corrupt practices including, but not limited to, taking bribes and other undue advantages from Hiranandani for “compromising her parliamentary privileges and causing national security threats by sharing her Lok Sabha login credentials”.

The anti-graft ombudsman issued directions to the CBI after receiving the findings of its preliminary inquiry into allegations made against her.

The agency had registered an FIR on March 21, 2024, against her and Hiranandani under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on a reference from the Lokpal. In July this year, the CBI submitted its report to the Lokpal in connection with the case.

In December 2023, the TMC MP was expelled from the House for “unethical conduct”, which she had challenged in the Supreme Court. She later retained the Krishnanagar seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.