'Cash For Query' Row: Mahua Moitra To Skip Parliamentary Ethics Committee Hearing On 31 October

Mahua Moitra has announced that she will not be attending the parliamentary Ethics Committee hearing on 31 October.

The committee is currently investigating allegations of "cash for query" against her, specifically regarding accusations that she allowed businessman Darshan Hiranandani to use her parliamentary login to post questions directly for the Lok Sabha.

Moitra on Friday said that she would not be able to depose on 31 October as she has pre-scheduled programmes.

"Chairman, Ethics Comm announced my 31/10 summons on live TV way before official letter emailed to me at 19:20 hrs. All complaints & suo moto affidavits also released to media," she wrote on X.

"I look forward to deposing immediately after my pre- scheduled constituency programmes end on Nov 4," she added.

Yesterday, the ethics committee recorded statements of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, both of whom have levelled the allegations against the Trinamool MP, NDTV reported.

It is worth noting that Moitra has referred to Dehadrai as her "jilted ex" in the past.

She has been accused of accepting money to pose targeted questions in parliament on behalf of a businessman, with the alleged intention of targeting both the government and the Adani Group.

In the affidavit, Hiranandani had claimed that Mahua Moitra shared her Lok Sabha e-mail ID so he could send her information targeting the Adani Group and she could raise questions in parliament. He claimed she later gave him the login so he could post directly.

According to Hiranandani's affidavit, he claimed that Mahua Moitra was advised by her friends and advisors to personally attack PM Narendra Modi as a means to gain quick fame at the national level.