Cash-for-query row: Lok Sabha Ethics Committee calls TMC's Mahua Moitra on Oct 31

The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha has asked Trinamul Congress member Mahua Moitra to appear before it on October 31 in connection with the cash-for-query allegations against her.After a meeting of the panel on Thursday, its head and BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar also said they will seek assistance from the Ministries of Home Affairs and IT in probing the allegations against the TMC MP.

Moitra has been asked to appear before the panel on October 31, Sonkar said. The panel on Thursday recorded statements of lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and BJP leader Nishikant Dubey in connection with the matter.In his complaint to Speaker Om Birla, BJP member Dubey has cited documents shared by Dehadrai to back his cash-for-query allegations against Moitra.Birla had referred the matter to the Ethics Committee.Dehadrai was the first to record his statement before the Ethics Committee, while Dubey appeared before the panel in the afternoon. Dubey told reporters that he would reply to whatever questions the committee would ask him."Documents don't lie," Dubey said when pointed out that Moitra had refuted all the allegations levelled against her.In the letter to Birla dated October 15, Dubey said the advocate, close to Moitra before they fell out, has shared "irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged" between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.