Mahua Moitra cash-for-query case: Darshan Hiranandani named in CBI's FIR, says report

Darshan Hiranandani has been named in the FIR filed by the CBI in the cash-for-query case, media reports said.

Updated on: Mar 24, 2024, 19:22:52 IST

By HT News Desk

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Dubai-based businessman and Niranjan Hiranandani's son Darshan Hiranandani, along with former MP Mahua Moitra have been named in the FIR filed by the CBI in the cash-for-query case, media reports said on Sunday. The development came as the Lokpal, the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, ordered a formal CBI probe against Moitra in the case after it received the findings into allegations made against the former MP by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

Darshan Hiranandani named in CBI's FIR, says report

The FIR, dated March 21, states: “In compliance with the order of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, a regular case is registered against Mahua Moitra, Darshan Hiranandani, and unknown others.”

On Saturday, the CBI carried out searches at various locations linked to Moitra in West Bengal's Kolkata, Krishnanagar, and Karimpur. The probe agency officials, accompanied by a team of central forces, also raided the premises in the Alipore area where Moitra's father Dipendra Lal Moitra has been residing for several years.

The cash-for-query case

Last year, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that Moitra accepted bribes from Darshan Hiranandani in return for asking his questions in the Parliament - which were specifically targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani among others - and also sharing her parliamentary login credentials with the businessman. While the 49-year-old leader denied accepting bribes, she claimed to have shared her credentials.

In December, she was expelled from the Lok Sabha for “unethical conduct” after a Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations.

Meanwhile, Moitra, who has been fielded by the TMC from the Krishnanagar seat in the Lok Sabha elections, has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from agencies)

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