Who is this ‘jilted ex’ that Mahua Moitra of TMC refers to?
The controversy over Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey’s allegation that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took “bribes” to ask questions in the Lok Sabha intensified on Monday with senior BJP leaders terming it as a “severe blow to the dignity of Parliament” and Moitra asserting that the charges were based on a “jilted ex’s lies”.
On Sunday, Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accusing Moitra of taking bribes for raising questions in Parliament to “protect the interest of a business group and claimed that advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had “shared irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged” between her and Darshan Hiranandani. Dubey also wrote to IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging him to investigate the IP addresses of Moitra’s log-in credentials for the House.
The Hiranandani Group has said there is “no merit” in the allegations.
In her reply to Dubey’s complaint to Vaishnaw, Moitra said “all parliamentary work of MPs done by PAs, assistants, interns, large teams” and urged the minister to release details of location and login details of all MPs with Call Detail Records. “Please release info on training given to staff to login,” she said but did not elaborate any further.
Moitra has sent legal notices to Dubey, Dehadrai and several media organisations for making defamatory allegations against her.
The Adani group, too, released a statement, alleging that to tarnish its brand value, several individuals as well as groups are working overtime.
Slamming the Adani group over the statement, Moitra posted a series of comments on X and said, “Mr A – this lame statement your best efforts? Falling back on Fake Degree MP & a jilted ex’s lies? I won’t rest till the ED, CBI investigate and freeze Rs. 13,000 crore coal scam you have stolen from Indians. I’m told even Hon’ble Narendra Modi is sick of you & your frauds.”
Who is Jai Anant Dehadrai?
Jai Anant Dehadrai is said to be an estranged partner of Mahua Moitra.
He reportedly has a bitter feud running with the TMC MP over the custody of their pet dog.
Moitra had filed multiple police complaints against Dehadrai in the last six months for alleged criminal trespass, theft, vulgar messages and abuse, news agency PTI reported.
On Dehadrai, the legal notice says that Moitra and the advocate used to be close friends, but had a falling out. After that, Dehadrai allegedly “repeatedly threatened our Client [Moitra] with several vile, malicious and vulgar messages” and trespassed on her official residence and stole personal possessions, including Moitra’s dog.
The legal notice says the dog was later returned. After repeated violations, Moitra had filed police complaints against Dehadrai. Dehadrai tried to get journalists to publish false stories about Moitra, the notice says, but could not convince anyone because of the lack of evidence. Since journalists could not be convinced, Dehadrai allegedly then approached the BJP and Dubey, the notice states. Dubey then went on to repeat these allegations and “did not even bother to conduct any due diligence of any kind to establish the veracity of the allegations”.
The notice also claims that Dubey and Dehadrai have allegedly leaked private photos of Moitra after cropping them.
The notice calls upon Dehadrai to withdraw the allegations in all communications and issue a public apology.