Minutes after a high-voltage drama in the Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress MP, Mahua Moitra was shown the way to the Parliament doors after the house voted in favour of her expulsion in connection to the cash-for-query case. After a voice vote, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stated that the House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that Moitra’s conduct was “immoral and indecent as an MP”.
In her first response after expulsion, Mahua Moitra cried foul alleging that the ethics panel refused to summon the businessman Darshan Hiranandani to testify. She added that there is also no evidence of taking any cash or any gifts. Her comments came while standing alongside the Opposition leaders, all of whom staged a walkout after Lok Sabha adopted the motion of Moitra’s expulsion.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation has already filed a Precursor Enquiry (PE) in the case, which is an formal enquiry into the matter. This will allow CBI to decide whether it wants to convert the matter into a regular case based on available evidence, or close it.
The Ethics Committee report probing “Unethical Conduct” of the TMC MP had recommended that Moitra must be expelled for the Lower House of the Parliament and called for an intense, legal, and institutional inquiry into the matter by the central government in a time bound manner. The report submitted by the Ethics Committee stated that the serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment.
Mahua Moitra was alleged to have taken cash and gifts from industrialist Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for Parliament login using which Hiranandani posted questions against Gautam Adani and the Adani Group. The complaint was first brought by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey forwarded Jai Anant’s complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker. The issue was then transferred to the ethics committee, which after inquiring Nishikant Dubey, Jai Anant Dehadrai and Mahua Moitra recommended Mahua Moitra’s expulsion. The ethics committee report was taken up by the Lok Sabha on Friday and Mahua Moitra got expelled.
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