Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday (March 23) conducted searches at multiple locations, including Kolkata, linked to Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra in cash-for-query case. She was expelled from Lok Sabha in December last year after the Parliamentary Ethics Committee recommended her expulsion from the Lower House for "unethical conduct".
Teams of the central probe agency reached Moitra's residence in West Bengal's capital city and other cities early on Saturday, informed about the search proceedings and started the operation, officials said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR against the former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP on Thursday on the directives of the Lokpal, which has instructed the agency to file a report within six months, they said.
The former MP has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court and will again be in the hustings during the upcoming general elections as a TMC candidate from the Krishnanagar seat in West Bengal.
The Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman, issued the directions to the CBI after receiving the findings of its preliminary inquiry into allegations made against Moitra by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
Dubey, a Lok Sabha member, alleged that Moitra had asked questions in the House in exchange for cash and gifts from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to mount an attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.
(With PTI inputs)
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