ED issues fresh summons to Mahua Moitra, businessman Darshan Hiranandani in FEMA case

Moitra was called for questioning twice earlier by the ED but she did not depose before the central agency citing official work, and sought deferment of the notice. “Moitra and Hiranandani have been asked to appear for questioning at the ED office here on Thursday,” a source said. Earlier, his father Niranjan Hiranandani had deposed before the ED in Mumbai.

In the current case, the sources said, an advocate allegedly linked to Moitra was questioned by the ED on Wednesday at its office.

Moitra has been accused of accepting money to ask questions on behalf of businessman and friend Hiranandani. In an interview to ‘The Indian Express’ on October 27, Moitra admitted that she gave her Parliament login and password details to Hiranandani but denied taking any cash from him, as alleged by Supreme Court advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai in his complaint to the CBI.

On December 8, Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha, which adopted a report of its Ethics Committee that found her “guilty of unethical conduct” and called for “an intense, legal institutional inquiry” by the government “in a time-bound manner”. After the searches, Moitra posted on X Saturday night, “The CBI came home & to my election offices today. Were very polite. Searched. Found nothing.”

Moitra represented the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat, and has been fielded from the same constituency by the TMC for the Lok Sabha polls.

In October 2023, the cash-for-query allegations took a serious turn with Hiranandani claiming in an affidavit to the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha that Moitra provided him her Parliament login and password so that he could “post the questions” directly “on her behalf when required”. Moitra called the letter “a joke” and said, “The draft of this letter was sent by the PMO and he (Darshan) was forced to sign it.”