A dispute between Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra and her former partner Jai Dehadrai has turned into a huge political controversy, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gunning for her disqualification. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that an inquiry committee be constituted to look into allegations that Mahua acted at the behest of a businessman friend to ask questions in Parliament about industrialist Gautam Adani. The complaint has been transferred to the Parliament’s Ethics Committee. Mahua, who has been a fierce critic of Adani, meanwhile, filed a defamation suit and has staunchly maintained that the BJP was targeting her with falsehoods.
So, what is the ‘cash for query’ controversy?
In his letter to Speaker Om Birla on October 15, MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that he received a letter from advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai alleging that Mahua received bribes from businessperson Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament. Dubey also claimed that Dehadrai did “elaborate and painstaking research” and alleged that Mahua asked “approximately 50 questions in Parliament, out of total 61…. which shockingly seek information with the intent of protecting or perpetuating business interests of Shri Darshan Hiranandani and his company”.
The letter further alleged that Mahua’s questions were focused on the Adani group. According to Dubey, this showed that a “criminal conspiracy” was hatched by Mahua to “garner and protect the business interests” of Darshan Hiranandani. Stating that this amounts to “Breach of Privilege”, “Contempt of the House”, and “Criminal Offence under Section 120-A of IPC”, he asked for an inquiry committee to be set up to look into the allegations. He further said that Mahua should be immediately suspended from Parliament.
Jai Anant Dehadrai – the ‘jilted ex’
Jai Dehadrai (35) is a lawyer with specialisation in white-collar criminal matters at the Supreme Court of India. He also wrote a column titled The Irreverent Lawyer for the Times of India between 2013 and 2022. He was Mahua’s partner for a while. According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Pune University and completed his master’s in law from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked under former Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni and was also counsel of the Goa government. Currently, he runs his own legal firm, Law Chambers of Jai Anant Dehadrai.
Mahua, in a post on social media, called Dehadrai a “jilted ex”. The duo were in a relationship for three years and separated earlier this year. The main dispute between the two was over the custody of their dog, a Rottweiler named Henry. Mahua has filed police complaints against Dehadrai twice this year for kidnapping Henry from her house.
As the first salvo, Dehadrai allegedly cropped pictures of Mahua from parties they attended and distributed it to BJP social media influencers. A bunch of pictures first appeared in which BJP members made fun of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Mahua. The pictures were conveniently cropped to remove Tharoor’s sister Shobha and other guests at the gathering.
Then, Dehadrai filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the allegations of quid pro quo between Mahua and Darshan Hiranandani. He also sent the complaint to BJP’s Nishikant Dubey, who has had several quarrels with Mahua in the past in the Parliament.
MP Mahua files defamation suit
Mahua responded sarcastically to the allegations saying that she welcomed a CBI inquiry into any “alleged money laundering right after the CBI finished investigating Adani’s offshore money trail over invoicing benami accounts.” On October 17, she also filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Dubey, Dehadrai, 15 news organisations, including The Indian Express, Times of India, and The Print, as well as search engine Google, social media platforms X and YouTube.
Mahua sought the court to restrain Dubey, Dehadrai, and the media from publishing/posting any “false defamatory content” against her and also sought a public apology from Dubey and Dehadrai.
In the suit, her counsel stated that Dehadrai repeatedly threatened Mahua with “several vile, malicious and vulgar messages, but also trespassed into her official government residence and stole some personal possessions, including her pet dog (which he later returned).”
The suit also states that while she did not take any action immediately because of their erstwhile friendship, she filed two complaints at the Barakhamba Road Police Station – in March and September – for alleged “transgressions of trespass and theft”. But these complaints were withdrawn on October 4 to “resolve the matter amicably”, according to the defamation suit.
Mahua also alleged in the suit that Dehadrai “reached out to several prominent journalists and attempted to convince them to run stories based on wild, vindictive, fictitious and entirely imaginary allegations” about her. The suit also states that Dehadrai sent a letter to MP Dubey with such allegations. Mahua alleged that the BJP MP did not conduct due diligence to establish the veracity of the allegations and instead leaked the letter to the media.
‘Leaked cropped photos’
Mahua also alleges in the defamation suit that her private photographs were cropped, edited, and leaked. She cites an image taken during a dinner organised to celebrate the birthday of senior advocate ANS Nadkarni, which was cropped to remove Dehadrai and leaked to members of the opposition. She states that BJP member Priti Gandhi posted the photograph on social media. The suit also states that Dehadrai leaked the cropped images to MP Dubey, who allegedly passed them on to party members who are circulating them on social media.
Two separate pictures of Mahua are being circulated on social media, one in which she is seen smoking a cigar, and another in which she is seen with Shashi Tharoor. Both are from different gatherings, and both were cropped.
Dehadrai’s complaint over pet dog Henry
Even while this controversy was going on, Dehadrai filed a complaint with the Delhi police on October 19 alleging “theft and illegal retention” of Henry by Mahua. In his complaint, he claimed that he purchased the dog for Rs 75,000 in 2021. Stating that he looked after Henry since he was 40 days old, Dehadrai said that their bond is that of a “parent and a child”. He also alleged that Mahua “deliberately kidnapped and hid Henry” since October 10, 2023 “with the intent to harass and blackmail” him in response to his CBI complaint dated October 14, 2023. (We are unsure how Mahua acted four days prior).
Defamation court case
On October 20, the defamation suit filed by Mahua came up for hearing at the Delhi High Court. Appearing in person, Jai Dehadrai told the court that Mahua’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, contacted him on October 19. Dehadrai said that a compromise had been offered – withdraw his CBI complaint in exchange for the custody of his dog Henry. After Justice Sachin Datta expressed his disappointment with this, Gopal Sankaranarayanan withdrew from the case. The case has been adjourned to October 31.
On October 15, a spokesperson for the Hiranandani group denied the allegations that Mahua had been paid to ask questions and said, “We have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics. Our group has always worked with the government in the interest of the nation and will continue doing so.”
However, on October 20, the group’s CEO Darshan Hiranandani, who is Mahua’s friend, through an affidavit claimed that he used the TMC leader’s Parliamentary login to ask certain questions. He said that Mahua targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass” Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose “impeccable reputation gave the opposition no opportunity to attack him.” He said that initially he helped her draft questions, later she gave him the login id. Though Darshan claims that he bought costly gifts for Mahua, he does not link them to the questions on Adani.
Responding to this, Mahua said that Darshan and his family had been threatened with dire consequences, which is why he signed the letter against her.
In the affidavit, Darshan alleged that he gave information to Mahua, based on which she posed questions attacking the Adani Group. He also claimed that he gifted her “expensive luxury items” and carried out “renovation of her official” bungalow; and that she provided him with her Parliament login and password so that he could “post the questions directly on her behalf”.
Mahua meanwhile has responded saying that she will continue to question Adani. “This is the usual modus operandi of this BJP government or rather Gautam Adani’s government run by the BJP. Every effort is being made to malign me and isolate and scare those near and dear to me. My closest have been threatened with ED and CBI raids in the next few days. This selective leak of a plea bargain being shown as part of a media circus only reveals how scared and desperate the BJP and Modi are of Adani’s corruption coming out in the open. This is part of the establishment’s witch hunt into every political leader who dares question Adani. This is the price to pay for standing up to the BJP and Adani. But they cannot scare me.
I will continue to stand up to Mr Adani until he answers the many questions that he’s duty bound to answer to the people of this great country. And I will pay any price to protect my country from these criminals.”