Mahua Moitra has been summoned by the parliament ethics committee

New Delhi:

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has been summoned by the Lok Sabha ethics committee on October 31 in the “cash for query” controversy. The committee agreed the allegations against Ms Moitra were “very serious”, people familiar with the matter said.

In a nearly three-hour-long proceeding today, the committee heard both BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and discussed every aspect of the allegations they have made against the Trinamool Congress MP, sources said.

The ethics committee chairman Vinod Sonkar told reporters they have sent letters to the Information Technology Ministry and the Home Ministry seeking details on key aspects of the case for a deeper investigation.

Mr Dehadrai, on whose complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the entire case rests, was cross-examined by the ethics committee, while Mr Dubey was allowed to explain his allegations, sources said.

Referring to the CBI complaint, Mr Dubey had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and levelled cash-for-query allegations against Ms Moitra. The Trinamool MP has called the Supreme Court lawyer her “jilted ex”.

The letter claimed to share “irrefutable evidence” of businessman Darshan Hiranandani giving bribes to Ms Moitra to ask questions in parliament. The questions were allegedly designed to target the Adani Group.