Mahua Moitra's foreign trips in past 5 years may be mapped by MHA: Sources

The Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha is likely to ask the Home Ministry to map TMC MP Mahua Moitra's foreign trips in the past five years, sources told India Today on Thursday. The panel, which is looking into the charges of bribery against Moitra, is likely to approach the ministry to rule out whether all due procedures such as informing Lok Sabha and other clearances were taken by the MP or not, the source said. 

The information has already been requested from the Ministry of Information Technology by the Parliamentary panel in the cash-for-query row involving Moitra. The TMC MP is accused of taking bribes for asking questions in Parliament on the Adani Group.  

On Thursday, the Ethics Committee issued a summons to Moitra to appear before it on October 31. 

The summons was issued after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey told the panel that it was an "open and shut" case and she should be disqualified. Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai gave "oral evidence" to the panel against Moitra during the day, after which its chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar said the committee would also seek assistance from the Ministries of Home Affairs and IT in probing the allegations. 

The panel's meeting began with sharp differences among the 10 members present, excluding the chairperson, on who should they hear first -- the complainant or the accused -- forcing a vote to resolve the matter. The vote ended in a tie as the members -- five of the ruling BJP and five of opposition parties -- voted on partisan lines, with the Chair casting his deciding vote in favour of hearing Dubey first as scheduled. After the meeting, Sonkar, a BJP MP, told reporters, "We have decided to ask Mahua Moitra to appear before us on October 31." 

In his statement before the panel, Dubey pitched for her disqualification saying the matter pertains to Parliament's dignity and is an issue of national security, sources told news agency PTI. He noted it was an "open and shut" case as even businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who allegedly paid her bribes, has admitted to the charge. 

Some panel members belonging to opposition parties, including BSP's Danish Ali and JD(U)'s Giridhari Yadav, called for taking a lenient view in the matter as she was a first-term MP, to which Dubey insisted that an example should be made of her to serve as a lesson to other parliamentarians, the agency said citing sources. 

Dubey cited the 2005 expulsion of 11 MPs, who were caught in a sting operation accepting bribes for asking fixed questions in Parliament, to make his point. 

(With inputs from PTI)