Advocate Jai Dehadrai appears before CBI in cash for query case

New Delhi [India], January 25 : In the cash for query case, Delhi-based lawyer Anant Jai Dehadrai appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters on Thursday. The CBI had asked him to appear before the agency to record his statement in the cash for query case in which allegations were made against former Lok Sabha MP from TMC Mahua Moitra.
Jai Dehadrai spoke to media personnel upon entering the CBI headquarters regarding the ongoing case and said, "I have been asked to appear since I am aware of certain details in the matter, and as a citizen of the country, I am complying. Since the matter is subjudice, it wouldn't be right to comment further."
The Anti-Corruption (AC-3) unit of the CBI previously summoned Dehadrai under Section 22 of the Lokpal/Lokayukta Act, citing his familiarity with the subject matter under investigation and requesting his appearance.
In December in a letter written to CBI Director Praveen Sood and Union Home Minister Amit Shah dated December 29, Advocate Dehadrai said that there might be a possibility that the TMC leader Mahua Moitra is "tracking" his physical location by using his phone number.
The advocate in his letter also alleged, "Moitra has a demonstrated history of misusing her clout and connections with certain senior officers of Bengal Police to obtain the Call Detail Records (CDR) of private individuals to satisfy her desire to stalk the precise whereabouts of certain individuals as also the details of the individuals they are in touch with.
The advocate had also stated that Mahua Moitra has made several threats to him in the past and also said that on several occasions he felt that his car was being followed outside his residence in Delhi.
Responding to allegations made in the complaint, Mahua Moitra in a post on X, urged the Home Ministry to appoint a Special Director in the CBI for complaints by 'jilted exes' all over India.
In November 2023, the federal probe agency began a preliminary inquiry (PE) against Mohua Moitra following a reference note from Lokpal, prompted by corruption allegations made by Dehadrai.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey later lodged a complaint with Lokpal, accusing the TMC former MP of accepting cash and gifts for posing questions in Parliament.
The Corruption Ombudsman forwarded the complaint to the CBI, which has initiated a preliminary inquiry (PE) into the cash-for-query case based on Lokpal's note.