Mahua Moitra drops defamation case against media houses in cash for query controversy

Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra on Tuesday informed Delhi High Court that she will not be pressing for relief against media houses in the defamation suit filed by her related to the 'cash for query' controversy..Justice Sachin Datta was informed by Moitra's counsel that she will be pressing for relief only against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.Advocate Abhimanyu Bhandari appeared for Dubey and informed the Court that Moitra has given an interview where she admitted that she gave her parliamentary login id and password to businessman Darshan Hiranandani and, therefore, committed perjury by claiming otherwise in her suit..Advocate Siddhant Kumar for news outlet ANI said that since Moitra was not seeking relief against the media houses, she should amend her suit to reflect this stance as there were allegations against the media outlets in the suit. .The Court asked advocate Samudra Sarangi representing Moitra to amend the memo of parties accordingly and adjourned the matter.The case will be heard next on December 5..Moitra has moved the Court against Dubey, Dehadrai and a host of media platforms seeking directions to them to take down the allegedly defamatory allegations that she asked questions in parliament against Adani Group in return for cash from businessman Darshan Hiranandani.A total of 15 media houses have been made party to the suit. Moitra has also sought reliefs against X (former Twitter), Google and YouTube to remove the allegedly defamatory content against her from these platforms. .Dubey and Dehadrai have alleged that Moitra accepted bribes to ask questions in parliament.The BJP MP had written to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla on Sunday alleging that Moitra agreed to field questions in parliament on behalf of business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani, in exchange for cash and gifts.Dubey's complaint stemmed from a letter he received from Dehadrai, who had filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claiming to have "irrefutable evidence that Moitra took bribes from Hiranandani.".Moitra has termed all these allegations baseless and defamatory, and apart from an injunction, also sought damages. The MP from West Bengal said that the acts of Dubey, Dehadrai and others have caused serious damage to her dignity, reputation, respect and goodwill.She sent a legal notice to Dehadrai, Dubey and the media asking them to take down the allegations.Later she approached the High Court with a defamation suit..Meanwhile, Hiranandani's signed statement emerged in the media recently in which he corroborated Dehadrai's claims and also said that he used Moitra's parliamentary login to draft and post questions in parliament targeting Adani group.The statement claimed that he did not want to displease Moitra and did various favours for her including gifting her expensive luxury items and providing her support in renovating her official bungalow in Delhi..In response, Moitra also released a statement questioning how a signed affidavit was issued on a white paper without any letterhead.She also alleged that Hiranandani's affidavit has been drafted by "some half-wit in the PMO who doubles up as a creative writer in the BJP’s IT cell. It sings paeans to Modi and Gautam Adani while linking in every opponent of theirs to me and my alleged corruption."Moitra also rebuffed claims that Hiranandani gave in to her demands because he was fearful of displeasing her..Mahua Moitra lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan withdraws from case after Jai Dehradai tells Delhi High Court he was contacted by senior lawyer