Cash-for-questions row: Lok Sabha ethics panel summons Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Oct 31 for questioning

Cash-for-questions allegations: Vinod Sonkar, Chairman of Parliament Ethics Committee, on Thursday said that Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra will be summoned on October 31 for further questioning in the cash-for-questions case.

Earlier in the day, BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey and Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who the Trinamool MP called her "jilted ex", appeared before the panel to record their statement. 
 
"The two people who were summoned today - the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey - were heard attentively. After that, it was decided that Mahua Moitra would be called on 31st October. She will come and present her part. The committee has also decided that IT Ministry and MHA will be sent letters to make her details available," Sonkar said on Thursday. 

Sonkar also said that the panel has sent letters to the Information Technology Ministry and the Home Ministry seeking details on key aspects of the case for a deeper investigation.

Dubey had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and levelled cash-for-query allegations against the Trinamool leader. His complaint was based on a letter by Dehadrai. Thereafter, the Speaker had referred the matter to the ethics committee.

As he was asked about Mahua Moitra's counter-allegation against Dubey of a fake degree, Nishikant Dubey refused to comment and said, "The only question is Mahua chor hai ki nahi (whether Mahua Moitra is a thief or not).

Dehadrai and Dubey have alleged that Moitra took cash and gifts from industrialist Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for questions against billionaire and Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani in Parliament. Of the 61 questions Moitra asked in Parliament, 50 were on Adani and his companies, Dubey had written in his complaint.

Hiranandani, a resident of Dubai, has issued a “sworn affidavit” saying Moitra gave him her Parliament login and password so he could post questions on her behalf.

"Mahua Moitra wanted to quickly make a name for herself at the national level. She was advised by her friends and advisors that the shortest possible route to fame is by personally attacking PM Narendra Modi," Hiranandani alleged in the affidavit.

"Moitra thought that the only way to attack PM Modi is by attacking Gautam Adani as both were contemporaries and belong to the same state of Gujarat," the affidavit further said.

In her reply, Trinamool MP Moitra rejected all charges and attacked on Dubey and Dehadrai. On Hiranandani, Moitra said he must have been threatened to issue the statement.

On Wednesday, Dubey took a fresh dig at Moitra and asked her to clarify if her NIC mail was opened in Dubai or not and who bore the expenses of her foreign trips.

"The question is not about Adani, degree or theft, but about your corruption by misleading the country," the BJP MP said in his post on the microblogging site without naming Moitra.

The question is about the dignity of Parliament, the security of India and the proprietary, corruption and criminality of the said MP, he wrote on X, with hashtags "degree wali desh beche (the one who has degree sells the country)" and "chand paise ke le jamir beche (sells conscience for few bucks)".

On Tuesday, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will extend "full cooperation" to the Parliament's Ethics Committee in the investigation of charges levelled by Dubey against Moitra.

Sharing a copy of Vaishnaw's letter on social media platform X, Dubey said it is the beginning of a 'dharma yuddh'.