Lokpal directs CBI to chargesheet Mahua Moitra

The Lokpal has given approval to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a chargesheet against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in connection with the alleged cash-for-query case. With the Lokpal’s approval, the CBI started the legal process against the MP from Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal’s Nadia district and expected to file a charge sheet in four weeks.

The full bench of the Lokpal held a meeting on November 12 and took the decision to give the green signal to the CBI to submit the chargesheet to the concerned court. The Lokpal on Saturday also asked the agency to submit a copy of the chargesheet to it. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had demanded a CBI probe against Mahua, alleging that she had asked questions in the Lok Sabha in exchange for cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to mount an attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.

It was alleged that Mahua had 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.” The Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, issued directions to the CBI after receiving the findings of its preliminary inquiry into allegations made against her.

The agency had registered an FIR on March 21, 2024, against her and Hiranandani under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act on a reference from the Lokpal. During the end of July, the CBI had submitted its report to the Lokpal in connection with the case. The Trinamool Congress MP was expelled from the House in December 2023 for “unethical conduct”, which she has challenged in the Supreme Court. She had retained the Krishnanagar seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, defeating her rival Amrita Roy of the BJP.