A Day After Lokpal Orders FIR, CBI Raids Mahua Moitra’s Home, Other Locations in Kolkata
Image Credit: Nabila Jamal on X
New Delhi: Amid elections for the Lok Sabha, raids and arrest of Opposition leaders by Central agencies across the country continue.
On Saturday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and a Lok Sabha candidate from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, Mahua Moitra’s residence and other locations in Kolkata were raided by the CBI in the alleged “cash for query” case.
The raids, according to reports, were carried out on the orders of Supreme Court Justice (Retd) A M Khanvilkar, the new Lokpal appointed by the Centre recently.
“The raids came a day after CBI filed an FIR against the former TMC MP on Thursday in response to directives from the anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal” said a report by Times of India.
On December 8, 2023, Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted the Ethics Committee report that found her “guilty” of the allegations made by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MO Nishikant Dubey, who had claimed that she had “accepted gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest” for asking certain questions in the House.
She was also accused of sharing her confidential log-in credentials with her businessman friend. Moitra had admitted to sharing the log-in details, which she said was a common practice among MPS, but had denied “bribery” charges.
The then TMC MP had also equated the act of her expulsion with hanging by a "kangaroo court". She alleged that a parliamentary panel was being “weaponised” by the government to force the Opposition into submission.
Recall that Moitra, a firebrand MP, had been the most vocal in raising questions in Parliament about the Adani group and the Narendra Modi government.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, after the controversy took off, row began, Moitra also alleged that she was approached by the Adani group to not aske questions related to it.
"Mr Adani has approached me via two Lok Sabha MPs in the last three years to sit across the table with him and work out a deal I have refused. The issue is, he was giving cash to not question," she told India Today.
The TMC leader and former MP has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court.
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