Ethics committee has asked for Mahua Moitra's logins, location details from IT and Home Ministries in connection with the cash-for-query allegations against the TMC MP, NDTV has reported.
As per the report, the Ethics Committee had written to the Union IT and Home ministries requesting information about her logins and locations. Meanwhile, Mahua Moitra has been asked to appear before the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha on October 31. As per latest updates, TMC MP has requested Lok Sabha ethics panel to give her any date after November 5 to appear in person, news agency PTI has reported.
The committee is headed by Vinod Sonkar, a BJP MP, and also includes Vishnu Datt Sharma, Sumedhanand Saraswati, Aparajita Sarangi, Rajdeep Roy, Sunita Duggal, and Subhash Bhamre of the BJP; Ve Vaithilingam, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Preneet Kaur of the Congress; Balashowry Vallabbhaneni (YSRCP); Hemant Godse (Shiv Sena); Giridhari Yadav (JD-U); P R Natarajan (CPI-M); and Kunwar Danish Ali (BSP).
Meanwhile, Moitra has been accused of being involved in the 'Cash for Query' scandal in Parliament last week with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey approaching the Ethics Committee. He alleged that the TMC leader accepted bribes and favours in return for asking questions in the Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The questions reportedly targeted the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Dubey also claimed that he had proof of the charges, given to him by Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai. He even claimed that the TMC MP's parliamentary login credentials were accessed in Dubai and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) provided this information to the probe agencies.
In a signed affidavit, Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy eponymous group, has admitted that he paid her bribes and that she targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass" PM Modi whose impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him.
The affidavit's evidential value is akin to the statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC, the BJP MP claimed in his submission before the committee.
Dehadrai was the first to record his statement before the Ethics Committee followed by Dubey. He later told reporters that he would reply to whatever questions the committee ask him.
"Documents don't lie," Dubey said when pointed out that Moitra had refuted all the allegations leveled against her.
(With inputs from agencies)
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