Cash-for-query: Lokpal moves Delhi HC for more time to consider issue of sanction to CBI

The Lokpal on Monday urged the Delhi High Court to extend the time granted to it to consider, as per law, the issue of granting sanction to CBI to file a chargesheet against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-for-query scam.

A bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Renu Bhatnagar directed that Lokpal’s application seeking two more months to comply with the direction be listed on January 23 before the bench which passed the order.

The Lokpal’s counsel said the application sought the extension of the time frame for considering the issue of sanction.

“It amounts to modification (of the order). List before the appropriate bench,” said the court.

On December 19, 2025, the High Court had set aside the November order of the Lokpal granting sanction to the CBI to file the chargesheet against Moitra and asked it to consider the issue of sanction under Section 20 of the Lokpal Act, strictly in accordance with provisions, within a period of one month.

A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar had said there was a “clear departure” from the procedure expressly mandated under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act and the Lokpal had erred in its understanding and interpretation of the provisions of the Act.

The cash-for-query scam pertains to the allegation that Moitra had asked questions in the House in exchange for cash and gifts from a businessman.

The verdict came on a plea by Moitra challenging the November 12, 2025, order of the Lokpal granting sanction to the CBI to file a chargesheet against her in the alleged cash for query scam.

The CBI in July 2025 submitted its report to the Lokpal in connection with the alleged cash-for-query scam case involving Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The agency had registered an FIR on March 21, 2024, against the two under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on a reference from the Lokpal.

It was alleged that Moitra indulged in corrupt practices, including, but not limited to, taking bribes and other undue advantages from Hiranandani for “compromising her parliamentary privileges and causing national security threats by sharing her Lok Sabha login credentials.”