The Central Bureau of Investigation told the Delhi High Court on Friday that Mahua Moitra’s challenge to a Lokpal order sanctioning prosecution in the cash-for-query case was ‘frivolous’, setting up a sharp exchange over what rights the Trinamool Congress MP was entitled to before the sanction was cleared.
Moitra has asked the court to strike down the Lokpal’s November 12 order, arguing it ignored her submissions and violated basic principles of natural justice.
The MP alleged that the watchdog wrongly granted the CBI permission to file a chargesheet against her in a case that accuses her of accepting cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in return for asking questions in Parliament.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, countered that the Lokpal had gone “well beyond” what the law required. He told the court Moitra had no entitlement to an oral hearing under the Lokpal Act and that her only statutory right was to file comments.
Despite that, he said, she was allowed to file comments, affidavits and present oral submissions, all of which were considered before sanction was granted.
Raju said the plea was an attempt to introduce documents at a stage where the law provides no such opening. “Unlike the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Lokpal framework contains no provision for summoning or a wider evidentiary exchange,” Raju told the court.
According to him, the stage required only two things: an order initiating prosecution and an order of sanction, neither of which triggers a further right to be heard.
Meanwhile, Moitra’s petition claimed the Lokpal invited her arguments but then dismissed them as premature, promising to consider them later even as it cleared the prosecution request.
The CBI had submitted its report to the Lokpal in July, months after registering an FIR on March 21, 2024, against Moitra and Hiranandani under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The report alleged she took bribes and other benefits in exchange for parliamentary questions and compromised national security by sharing her Lok Sabha login credentials.
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Published By:
Sahil Sinha
Published On:
Nov 21, 2025
