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Delhi HC gives Lokpal two months to decide on CBI charge sheet against Mahua Moitra
A bench comprising Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar passed the order after lawyers for the CBI and TMC lawmaker Mahua Moitra did not oppose the extension
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday granted two more months to the Lokpal to decide afresh on granting sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a charge sheet against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-for-query case.
A bench comprising justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar passed the order after lawyers for CBI and Moitra did not oppose the extension.
“Counsel for the non applicants have no objection. The period of disposal is extended by two months,” the court said in its order.
On December 19 last year, he Delhi high court set aside the Lokpal’s order granting CBI sanction to file a charge sheet against Moitra, observing that the procedure adopted by it amounted to a form of statutory ingenuity or re-engineering of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 (Act) and was “wholly alien to the scheme” of the Act.
On November 12, the Lokpal had granted CBI the sanction to file a charge sheet within four weeks, and mandated that a copy be submitted to the Lokpal.
The court consequently directed Lokpal to consider the aspect of sanction afresh as per the provisions of the Act and take a call within one month. However, in January, the Lokpal moved an application seeking two more months citing the intervening winter holidays.
Moitra is accused of giving access to her official MP ID to Dubai-based businessman Hiranandani to post questions on the Lok Sabha portal on her behalf and receiving expensive gifts from the businessman and funding her trips abroad. While Hiranandani has corroborated the charges, Moitra has denied the allegations that she received gifts and has asked other parliamentarians if they have ever shared their passwords.
In October 2023, Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla based on a complaint by lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who alleged that Moitra accepted money and favours to ask questions in Parliament. The same month, he approached Lokpal over the “cash-for-query” charge against Moitra.
In March last year, the Lokpal had ordered the CBI to file an FIR against her, saying there was “sufficient prima facie evidence on record that deserved deeper scrutiny.” It had directed the federal probe agency to complete investigations in “all aspects of the allegations” against Moitra within six months. The CBI had then submitted its report to Lokpal.
Moitra, at the time, was the sitting MP from Krishnanagar in the previous Lok Sabha, but had been expelled from the House in December 2023, based on a recommendation by the ethics committee. She defeated her rival BJP’s Amrita Roy, in the 2024 general elections, retaining her seat in the 18th Lok Sabha.
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