The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha has summoned Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra on 31 October over cash-for-query allegations against her, Chairman of the Committee Vinod Sonkar said on Thursday.
In a three-hour meeting during the day, the Committee heard both Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and discussed the allegations made by them against the Trinamul Congress member of the Lok Sabha.
Sonkar told reporters “The two people who were summoned today — the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey — were heard attentively. After that, it was decided that Mahua Moitra would be called on 31 October. She will come and present her part.”
He said “the committee has also decided that the Information Technology Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs will be sent letters to make her details available,” Mr Sonkar said. Dubey had made allegations of misuse of Parliament log-in against the Trinamul Congress MP.
Today was the first meeting of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha to address the “Cash for Query” allegations made against the Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee to submit oral evidence on his allegations of “Cash for Query’ against MP Mahua Moitra.
As he arrived at the Parliament annexe for the deposition he said that he would completely cooperate with the Committee and would be present whenever the Committee called him for questioning.
“I will give all the information that the Committee asks me to provide. I will appear before the Committee whenever it asks me to. I will submit all the documents, the truth is in the documents”
The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee is headed by the BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar and 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).
The BJP MP earlier wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, alleging the involvement of Mahua Moitra in the ‘Cash for Query’ scandal. He claimed that he had proof of the charges as given to him by Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.
Dubey, in his letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, titled “Re-emergence of nasty ‘Cash for Query’ in Parliament,” had alleged “‘serious Breach of Privilege’, ‘Contempt of the House’ and a ‘Criminal Offence’ under Section 120A of IPC” by the Trinamul Congress MP.
Dubey claimed that Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had provided him with proof of a bribe. In response to this letter, the Trinamul Congress MP said that she would welcome a probe by the Speaker after he dealt with alleged breaches of privilege by other BJP MPs.