The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a preliminary enquiry into allegations of corruption against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, PTI reported on Saturday.
The agency launched the investigation after anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal referred the case to it.
Moitra has been accused by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, reportedly her estranged partner, of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament.
Dubey alleged that the questions were often focused on business conglomerate Adani Group as the Hiranandani Group, a real estate developer, was bidding for business against it.
The Lok Sabha ethics panel, which investigated the allegations, recommended Moitra’s expulsion from Parliament, alleging that her actions were “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal”. The panel adopted its draft report on November 8, with six panel members supporting it and four submitting dissent notes.
Moitra had clarified in an interview in October that she gave Hiranandani access to her online Lok Sabha account but denied taking any bribes from him. She had claimed that MPs do not type their own questions and that the queries can only be submitted upon entering a one-time password, which is delivered to the phone number of the legislators.
Commenting on reports about the Central Bureau of Investigation launching a preliminary investigation, Moitra remarked that neither had the Lokpal uploaded any referral order on its website nor had the agency put out anything official.
“Hope Rs 13,000 crore Adani coal scam merits CBI PE [preliminary enquiry] before my witchhunt,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
However, BJP member Priyanka Tibrewal said Moitra herself had accepted that she had shared her credentials with Hiranandani, ANI reported.
“From the reports, we are coming to know it was not just Hiranandani who logged in from Dubai, but there were other places,” she said. “... It was logged in from the US and Bengaluru as well when she was present in Kolkata and Delhi. We have to find out who the people using these credentials were. An investigation has to take place.”
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