Moitra row: No iota of trust in Hiranandani claim about us, say Shardul and Pallavi Shroff

Darshan had, on his part, submitted an affidavit to the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee Thursday evening and said Moitra was targeting the Prime Minister and Gautam Adani. “Ms Moitra, in her endeavour, was getting help from other people like Sucheta Dalal, Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff, who were also in touch with her, and who were feeding her with all kinds of unverified information relating to Sh. Gautam Adani and his companies.”

In their statement, Shardul and Pallavi Shroff said, “We have not provided any information or paid for any query to be raised against the Adani family or the Prime Minister ever… Even to make such an allegation or insinuation against them, is deeply hurtful and is totally malicious.”

“What he (Hiranandani) has written is a completely reckless character assassination and there is no iota of truth in his statements,” said Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff. “He has harmed our reputation and we reserve our rights to prosecute him for spreading malicious statements against us thereby impacting our reputation,” they said.

Even as the Trinamool Congress maintained silence, Moitra posted Friday on social media platform X, “I welcome answering questions to CBI & Ethics Committee (which has absolute majority of BJP members) if and when they call me…” She said she was “enjoying Durga Puja in Nadia”.

In his affidavit, Darshan Hiranandani, son of one of Mumbai’s top realtors Niranjan Hiranandani, had said,“She (Moitra) requested me to keep supporting her in her attacks on the Adani group and provided me her Parliament login and password so that I could post the questions directly on her behalf when required,” Hiranandani said.

“The allegations made against both me and my wife Pallavi, are complete falsehoods,” the Shroff couple said.

Earlier, Thursday evening, Moitra had termed Hiranandani’s letter “a joke” and said, “Shardull Shroff is the brother of Cyril Shroff who has had a bitter separation of business from him. Cyril Shroff is Gautam Adani’s ‘samdhi’ and was on the SEBI’s committee in total conflict of interest…, she said.

Cyril Shroff’s daughter Paridhi is married to Gautam Adani’s son Karan. “Mr Adani’s son is married to my niece Paridhi and both of us have only goodwill and affection for Karan and Paridhi and would never dream of hurting the next generation of the Adani family,” Shardul and Pallavi Shroff said in the statement.

Shardul and Cyril, both high-profile lawyers, parted ways in 2015 with the split in the family firm Amarchand & Mangaldas, which was a leading law firm in the country.

“Ms Moitra has never asked for any help from us to help or facilitate her to attack and harm the Adani family or the Prime Minister. We would never agree or participate in such an attempt. We have never participated or taken sides or aggressive positions in favour of or against any political party or person as we are apolitical,” the Shroff couple said in the statement.

“We do not put it beyond imagination that rival firms in the legal profession or persons who may have animus against us could have put up Mr Hiranandani to make such false accusations against us. This needs to be investigated as this is a clear attempt to harm our reputation,” the statement said.

Shroffs said they do not work for Hiranandani’s firms and are not Darshan Hiranandani’s attorneys. “We do not act for Mahua Moitra and are not her attorneys. We do not provide or feed any politician any data or queries or controversial commercial information which would fuel a destructive political debate,” they said.

Responding to Hiranandani’s affidavit, Sucheta Dalal, a journalist and Managing Editor, MoneyLife, said, “…the very fact that he (Darshan Hiranandani) has named me makes this whole letter and his ‘solemn’ statements a farce… I don’t know @MahuaMoitra – and I think she can confirm it. The question of helping her simply does not arise, NOR did she EVER reach out an ask me for any help either!”

In fact, the Hiranandani Group had on Tuesday denied BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s allegations that Moitra gave her Parliament login and password to Darshan Hiranandani to pose questions. “We have always been in the business and not in the business of politics. Our group has always worked with the government in the interest of the nation and willl continue to do so,” the group’s spokesperson had said.

Moitra had on Thursday pointed to this and alleged that the draft of Hiranandani’s “was sent by the PMO and he (Darshan) was forced to sign it”. “This is in return for the government not doing a CBI investigation or not aggressively attacking their businesses,” she claimed.