TMC leader Mahua Moitra to skip ED summons in forex case, to campaign for LS polls in Krishnanagar

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra will skip summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear today in connection with a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case linked to the cash-for-query scandal. Mahua Moitra will be campaigning at the Krishnanagar constituency today instead. 

Moitra is Trinamool Congress' Lok Sabha candidate from Krishnanagar. She requested the ED officials to not call her until general elections are over. The central agency, however, is yet to take any call on her request. 

The central agency called the former MP twice earlier for questioning in the case. Moitra, however, skipped those summonses as well due to some official work. The ED on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Mahua Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani, asking them to appear before the agency today. 

In December last year, Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha for "unethical conduct". BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that Mahua Moitra asked questions in the lower house in exchange for cash and gifts from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to attack industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account are under the ED's scanner as well as a few other foreign remittances and fund transfers. Moitra responded to Dubey's charges and said she "welcomed any move against her after the Lok Sabha Speaker is finished dealing him pending charges against him (Dubey)". 

The TMC leader said charges against were "defamatory, false, baseless and not supported by even a shred of evidence." She also claimed that she was being targeted because she questioned the deals of the Adani Group. 

Previously, the CBI raided her premises in connection with the cash-for-query case on Saturday. The raid came days after the Lokpal directed the CBI to investigate the allegations against her by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

The Lokpal asked the central agency to submit its findings in 6 months after completing the probe in the matter. 

In a recent chargesheet in the cash-for-query case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Moitra and Hiranandani. The central agency charged them with "criminal conspiracy, offences related to public servant being bribed, offence relating to bribing of a public servant and abetment". 

On Sunday, she wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) alleging that the CBI is "harassing" her and "throttling" her electoral campaign. She further alleged the CBI raids were "done with the sole intention of hindering my campaign process and creating a negative perception about me in the run-up to poll day."