‘No fear, no favour’: Darshan Hiranandani on signing affidavit against Mahua Moitra

Darshan Hiranandani, the industrialist at the centre of ‘cash for query’ row involving Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, said on Monday he signed the affidavit voluntary and without any fear or favour. However, he termed using the lawmaker's parliamentary login credentials as an ‘error of judgment’.

While speaking to news channel Times Now, the Dubai-based tycoon said he was under no pressure to sign the affidavit, denying Moitra's charges of him doing so as ‘a gun was put to his head’.

"The affidavit is signed by me, signed by me voluntarily, no fear, no favour. Testimony of that is that I had it notarised at the Indian consulate in Dubai.... Since I am in Dubai, I had it notarised in the Indian Consulate in Dubai. Then I sent it to the Privilege Committee of Lok Sabha and copied to CBI and Dr. Nishikant Dubey by email" Hiranandani told news channel Times Now.

Mahua Moitra, the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, is accused of receiving bribes from Hiranandani for posing questions attacking the Adani Group in the Parliament.

ALSO READ: TMC to decide action on Moitra after ethics panel proceedings

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had levelled these allegations against Moitra. He had claimed the said proof was provided by Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.

The Parliament Ethics committee has called both Dubey and Dehadrai to submit oral evidence of allegations before it on October 26.

‘Accessing Moitra's login credentials an error of judgment'

In his affidavit, Hiranandani had claimed that Moitra allegedly provided him with her Parliament login credentials so that he could post the questions directly on her behalf.

While speaking to the news channel, Hiranandani said,"I think that me being entangled in this whole matter is an error of my judgment. And like I said, I've been very clear and explicit in my affidavit about what happened. And, you know, I've got nothing more to add as far as that's concerned."

The industrialist said the matter was brought into full limelight by Dehadrai and the issue snowballed into a political controversy resulting in the Parliamentary committee on ethics, formally taking up the matter.

“Since it involved me by name directly and personally, it was incumbent upon me as a responsible citizen to bring the facts as they are before the public. Our groups are law abiding business with a focus to build a nation. And frankly, I regret that my personal error of judgment has embarrassed my family directly and my employees and my company indirectly”, he added.

"But reality is I felt that instead of a long process of investigation and denials, I must come forward with the facts upfront and cooperate fully as is my nature" Hiranandani said.

When questioned if he thought that Moitra wanted to target Adani and through him Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hiranandani said,"I think, I would prefer to stick to my affidavit in this regard, but I can tell you that she felt that attacking Mr. Adani would target the Prime Minister because there was perceived proximity as both are from the same state".

When asked about the gifts he allegedly gave to the TMC leader, Hiranandani chose to evade the question.

"I would prefer to stick to my affidavit and when called upon, by either the Parliament Ethics Committee or any sort of authority, I will gladly cooperate and provide each and every detail that's required" Darshan Hiranandani said.

Nishikant Dubey had alleged that Moitra's login credentials were accessed in Dubai and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) had provided the information to the probe agencies.

Responding to Dubey, Moitra had taken to social media platform X and said,"Request NIC to please release ALL details of MPs publicly to show they were physically present in place from where IDs were accessed by their PAs & researchers/interns/staff. Don’t use Fake Degree wala for leak, make this public NOW".