The Delhi High Court has reserved its order on Mahua Moitra”s plea seeking directions to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from leaking “sensitive and unverified information” to media in relation to agency’s investigation against her in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case. Justice Subramonium Prasad will pass the order tomorrow.
Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra had filed a petition with the Delhi High Court seeking to stop the ED from leaking “confidential and unconfirmed information” in connection with the probe against her under FEMA. Moitra alleged in the petition that ED has “deliberately leaked the information with bad intentions” against her.
Senior Advocate Rebecca John, representing Mahua Moitra, said that media reports regarding the case surfaced before Moitra was officially summoned. Asserting a breach of Moitra”s rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, John said that while she does not oppose the Enforcement Directorate“s (ED) right to investigate, she insists on the integrity of the process.
“I am not against ED”s right to investigate. I am saying I will submit to their jurisdiction. It is about the information being leaked prior to being communicated to me. ED is drip-feeding confidential information to the media,” John said, according to Bar and Bench.
In her plea, Moitra had requested that 19 media outlets, including ANI, Business Today, Economic Times, Financial Express, Hindustan Times, India TV, Indian Express, Mint, Moneycontrol, NDTV, Times Group, and others be barred from disseminating “unverified, erroneous, and defamatory content” regarding her involvement in the case. The ED had summoned Moitra for questioning on February 14 and February 20 regarding the alleged FEMA violation.
Moitra contends in her petition that the ED has intentionally leaked information with malicious intent to tarnish her reputation. The former TMC MP argues that news to an ongoing investigation infringes upon her right to a fair inquiry.
On December 8, 2023, Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after the Ethics Committee found her guilty in the “cash for query” scandal. The Ethics Committee found merit in allegations accusing Moitra of soliciting payment in exchange for parliamentary questions and subsequently recommended her expulsion from parliamentary membership. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of accepting remuneration from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for questioning businessman Gautam Adani.
Moitra has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court, where her petition is currently under review. The allegations against her include accepting Rs 2 crore in cash, and luxury items from Hiranandani in exchange for raising specific issues in Parliament. Moreover, she was accused of sharing her parliamentary credentials, allowing Hiranandani to post questions on her behalf. While she admitted that she had shared her credentials which, she had claimed, was a common practice among MPs, she vehemently denied bribery allegations.
Moitra is also under scrutiny by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following a directive from the Lokpal. However, as this investigation is still in its preliminary stages, the agency cannot arrest an accused or conduct searches, but it can seek information, examine documents and also question.
Despite consistent denials of any wrongdoing, Moitra suggests she’s being targeted due to her questioning the Adani Group’s dealings, particularly highlighting a purported ₹13,000 crore coal scam involving the conglomerate.
“Neither Lokpal has uploaded any referral order on the website as per the Lokpal Act, nor has CBI released any official statement. ‘Sources’ telling journalists, as per the usual media circus. Hope the ₹13,000 crore Adani coal scam merits a CBI preliminary inquiry before my witch-hunt,” Moitra had said in November.
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned Moitra’s expulsion as “vendetta politics” orchestrated by the BJP. Banerjee expressed confidence in Moitra’s eventual vindication and predicted a backlash against the BJP in upcoming elections.
“This is vendetta politics of BJP. They killed democracy… It is injustice. Mahua will win the battle. The people will give a befitting reply to the BJP. They will be defeated in the next election,” Banerjee had said.
