All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) leader Mahua Moitra has stated that she will campaign in her Krishnanagar seat on 28th March disregarding the summons from the Enforcement Directorate asking her to come in for an interrogation at the agency’s headquarters in the national capital. “I will be out for campaigning in the Krishnangar constituency in the afternoon,” she declared while talking to the media.
She and businessman Darshan Hiranandani who is located in Dubai, received a new summons from the Enforcement Directorate to appear in court for a potential violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED had earlier requested to question the 49-year-old politician. She avoided the probe and failed to show up before the investigators on 11th March and 19th February which resulted in the two previous summons being followed by the current one.
In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Mahua Moitra, who was dismissed from the Lok Sabha in December due to “unethical conduct,” has been renominated by her party from the Krishnanagar seat in West Bengal. The new summons was sent days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agency was ordered by anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal to look into the accusations made against her by Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey, prompting the agency to raid properties linked to her about the cash-for-query issue.
Nishikant Dubey has charged that Mahua Moitra posed inquiries in Parliament to launch an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and entrepreneur Gautam Adani, among others in return for money and presents from Darshan Hiranandani. He based his complaint on a letter from Supreme Court attorney Jai Anant Dehadrai. The sources informed PTI that, in addition to a few other overseas remittances and financial transfers, transactions connected to a non-resident external (NRE) account are being closely monitored by the ED.
Mahia Moitra has claimed innocence and filed a case with the Supreme Court contesting her removal from the lower house of the Parliament due to the cash-for-query accusations.