CBI registers FIR against TMC leader Mahua Moitra in cash-for-query case

New Delhi, March 21

Acting on the directions of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal, the CBI on Thursday registered an FIR against former Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the cash-for-query case, officials said.

The Lokpal has issued the directions to the CBI after receiving findings of the agency’s preliminary inquiry into allegations made by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey against Moitra.

The Lokpal had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to submit its findings in six months before it after investigating all aspects of the complaints against her in the matter.

Lok Sabha had expelled Moitra in December last year for “unethical conduct”.

The former MP has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court and will again be on the hustings during the general elections as the TMC’s candidate from the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal.

Dubey has alleged that Moitra asked questions in Lok Sabha in exchange for cash and gifts from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to mount an attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others. Moitra has denied all charges.

The Lokpal found that “allegations levelled against the RPS (Respondent Public Servant), most of which are supported by cogent evidence, are extremely serious in nature, especially in view of the position held by her”.