The Mahua Moitra ‘cash-for-query’ row explained

The BJP has accused the TMC’s Mahua Moitra of taking bribes to ask questions in Parliament. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused Moitra of ‘accepting bribes’ from a businessman and demanded that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla form an “inquiry committee” to examine the charges against her. Moitra slammed Dubey saying that she “welcomes any move against her after the Lok Sabha Speaker is finished dealing with pending charges against him (Dubey)”. The two MPs, known for their fiery parliamentary speeches and belligerent attacks on adversaries, have often exchanged blows over a host of issues over the years. But what are the allegations against Moitra exactly? Let’s take a closer look: What has Dubey alleged? As per Business Today, Dubey has accused Moitra of receiving money and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament about the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per The Week, Dubey claimed Hiranandani had given Moitra Rs 2 crore, lavish gifts like Iphone as well as Rs 75 lakh to contest polls. As per Indian Express, Dubey claimed to be in possession of documents given by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai which “shared irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged” between Moitra and a businessman “to ask question(s) in Parliament”.

The Print quoted Dubey’s letter to the Speaker as saying that Moitra should be suspended for “breach of privilege, contempt of the House, and criminal offence under Section 120-A of the IPC”.

Dubey in the letter claimed that of Moitra’s recent 61 questions, 50 “shockingly seek information, with the intent of protecting or perpetuating business interests of Shri Darshan Hiranandani and his company. The questions were also often focussed on the Adani Group, another business conglomerate Hiranandani Group was bidding for business against.” The Hindu quoted the letter as stating: “There is not an iota of doubt about a criminal conspiracy hatched by Mahua Moitra to protect the interests of a businessman – Shri Darshan Hiranandani – by asking Parliamentary Questions, which is reminiscent of the ‘Cash for Query’ episode of 12 December, 2005.” Noting that membership of 11 MPs were quashed on the recommendations of an inquiry committee within 23 days of its constitution, Dubey said Moitra should also be similarly probed and suspended from the House till the report is submitted. [caption id=“attachment_13145512” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has asked Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla form an ‘inquiry committee’ to examine the charges against Mahua Moitra. ANI[/caption] Citing her vehement attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, Dubey alleged that a “clever facade” was created in the past few years as she often references to the Adani Group while giving the impression that she was against the government. In a post on X, Dubey said membership of 11 MPs were quashed by same Parliament and such brazen conduct will not be acceptable now too and also alleged the use of hawala money by her without naming Moitra. “Membership will go. Just wait,” he claimed. Moitra slams Dubey, sends defamation notice Hitting back at Dubey, Moitra wrote on X, “Am using all my ill gotten cash & gifts to buy a college/ university in which Degree Dubey can finally buy a real degree.” Tagging the Lok Sabha Speaker, she added, “Finish the enquiries against him for false affidavits & then set up my enquiry committee.” Moitr also fired fresh salvo at the Adani Group. “Multiple breach of privileges pending against fake degreewala & other BJP luminaries. Welcome any motions against me right after Speaker finishes dealing with those. Also waiting for ED & others to file FIR in Adani coal scam before coming to my doorstep,” she said.

Multiple breach of privileges pending against fake degreewala & other @BJP4India luminaries. Welcome any motions against me right after Speaker finishes dealing with those.
Also waiting for @dir_ed & others to file FIR in Adani coal scam before coming to my doorstep.

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 15, 2023

“If Adani group is relying on dodgy dossier created by dubious Sanghis & circulated by fake degree wallahs to either shut me up or bring me down I would advise them not to waste their time. Use your lawyers wisely,” the TMC MP added. In another post, Moitra said, “Also welcome CBI enquiry into my alleged money laundering right after they finish investigating Adani’s offshore money trail, over invoicing, benami accounts. Adani may use BJP agencies to browbeat competition & buy airports but just try doing it with me.” As per The Wire, Moitra has sent defamation notices to Dubey, Dehadrai and several media houses that reported Dubey’s claims. The defamation notice states that Moitra recently questioned Dubey’s educational qualifications and claims he made on his election affidavit. The notice adds that this caused a ‘rattled’ Dubey to make these false claims.

The notice also says that Moitra and Dehadrai were close friends but fell out.

As per PTI, Dehadrai is said to be estranged partner of Moitra with whom he has a bitter feud running over the custody of their pet dog. Dehadrai allegedly “repeatedly threatened our client [Moitra] with several vile, malicious and vulgar messages” and trespassed on her official residence and stole personal possessions, including Moitra’s dog which was later returned, the notice states. Moitra had filed multiple police complaints against him in the last six months for alleged criminal trespass, theft, vulgar messages and abuse, as per PTI. The notice claims that Dehadrai attempted to get journalists to publish fake stories about Moitra, but was unsuccessful for lack of evidence: “However, soon after convincing our Client [Moitra] to withdraw the [police] Complaints dated 25 March 2023 and 23 September 2023, Noticee No. 2 [Dehadrai] immediately zapped back to old ways and continued his misguided and malicious pursuit of vendetta against our Client. Noticee No. 2 reached out to several prominent journalists and attempted to convince them to run stories based on wild, vindictive, fictitious and entirely imaginary allegations about our Client. It appears that no credible journalist responded to Noticee No. 2’s desperate attempts to malign our Client’s reputation basis unsupported and unsubstantiated allegations without even a shred of evidence,” the notice states, as per The Wire. The notice states that Dehadrai then approached the BJP and Dubey who “did not even bother to conduct any due diligence of any kind to establish the veracity of the allegations”. “Not only did Noticee No. 1 [Dubey] relay, endorse and exaggerate the false, baseless and per se defamatory allegations against our Client [Moitra], but also proceeded to leak the same to members of the media. Noticee No. 1 and 2 [Dehadrai] are both directly responsible for defaming and maligning the reputation and goodwill of our Client for their own respective personal and political vendettas,” the legal notice states.

The notice also rejects the allegations against Moitra as entirely baseless.

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As per Newslaundry, Moitra has demanded that Dubey and Dehradrai “withdraw the defamatory and false allegations” and “issue a written public apology”. Moitra has also demanded that media houses “take immediate steps to take down/delete any posts, tweets, articles, videos or any other material (of any kind) published on their respective platforms in relation to the false and defamatory allegations made by [Dubey and Dehradrai] against our client”. Dubey writes to Vaishnaw, Moitra hits back After writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Sunday, Dubey wrote to the Telecom and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urging him to investigate the IP addresses of her log-in credentials for the House. In the letter to Vaishnaw, Dubey urged him to take the allegations against Moitra with “utmost seriousness” and initiate an investigation to ascertain the IP addresses of all log-in credentials of the TMC leader’s Lok Sabha account and determine whether there were any instances in which her account was accessed at a location where she was not present. “The alleged sharing of Smt. Moitra’s Lok Sabha credentials with an external entity poses a direct threat to national security,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader claimed. Dubey also said the allegation that the Krishnanagar MP gave Darshan Hiranandani and the Hiranandani conglomerate access to her log-in credentials for the Lok Sabha website so that they could utilise it for their own personal gain “is possibly the most damning and grave of all the charges that are being made against her”. “If the claims made above are found to be accurate, this constitutes a serious criminal breach of trust as well as a violation of India’s national security because it would give unauthorised individuals access to government websites that may contain classified information,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_12620242” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Adani Group has has cited Nishikant Dubey’s complaint to attack the TMC MP.[/caption] Dubey urged the minister to determine whether there were any instances in which Moitra’s Lok Sabha account was accessed at a location where she was not present. “Any attempt by a Member of Parliament to compromise the sanctity of our democratic temple by accepting monetary or other types of remunerative benefits in exchange for asking questions the benefit of a business house ought to be thwarted as quickly as possible and an investigation must be carried out and completed as promptly,” NDTV quoted Dubey as saying in his letter to Vaishnaw. Responding to Dubey’s letter, Moitra said, “All parliamentary work of MPs is done by PAs, assistants, interns and large teams”. The TMC MP requested that Vaishnaw release the details of the locations and log-in credentials of all the MPs with Call Data Records (CDRs).

All parliamentary work of MPs done by PAs, assistants, interns, large teams. Respected @ashwinivaishnaw please release details of location & login details of ALL MPs with CDRs . Please release info on training given to staff to login. pic.twitter.com/1Mz61LBjw3

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 16, 2023

She also asked the information technology minister to release information on the training given to the staff to log in. Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrashekhar, said, “If true, this is indeed shocking and shameful.” “It is true that this company was actively and aggressively lobbying for data localisation. Language used in PQ is very similar (linking need for data localisation to data breaches) to that used when the head of this company met me.” “I am not aware or privy to the full facts or background on this — but if it is true, then it’s a terrible travesty and misuse of PQs (Parliament Questions),” Chandrashekhar said in a post on X. Moitra, responding to Chandrashekhar’s comment wrote on X: Sir, am member of IT Comm & JPC on Data Protection.  This is valid question for all Indians. If hostile “nation can steal data from apps - can’t they steal India user data stored overseas? Don’t insult my intelligence by alleging I’m fronting others. Something Ruia bag men do.” Hiranandani, Adani group react The Hiranandani Group, meanwhile, has dismissed the allegations. “We have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics. Our group has always worked with the government in the interest of the nation and will continue doing so," a spokesperson of the Hiranandani Group was quoted as saying by NDTV. The Adani Group, meanwhile, has cited Dubey’s complaint to attack the TMC MP who has been at the forefront of criticising the conglomerate ever since Hindenburg alleged fraud.

The Adani Group claimed that saying groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm its name and market standing.

In a statement, Adani Group referred to Dubey’s complaint without referring to him by name but said a Dehadrai has “filed a complaint with the CBI in the form of a sworn affidavit bringing on record the ‘commission of an elaborate criminal conspiracy by Mahua Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani, CEO of Hiranandani Group for specifically targeting Gautam Adani and his group of companies through parliamentary questions.” “He has further stated that, as a quid pro quo, Moitra received bribes and undue favours from Hiranandani,” the statement added. With inputs from agencies