ED summons TMC MP Dev and ex-MP Mahua to Delhi next wk
Times of India | 16 February 2024
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: The ED on Thursday summoned two Trinamool leaders - actor-MP Dev and former MP Mahua Moitra - to its Delhi offices next week. The former has been called on Feb 21 in connection with the agency's ongoing probe into the cattle-smuggling racket; the latter on Feb 19 over some foreign currency transactions.
The summons to the actor-politician, who represents the Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency in West Midnapore, barely three days after he announced that he was not quitting politics, has prompted cries from the TMC of this being another example of Centre's "vendetta politics".
Sources said Moitra has sent a lawyer's letter to the agency, questioning whether it could probe the charges against her.
The timing of the summons to Dev prompted a sharp response from TMC. On Monday, at a meeting in Hooghly's Arambag - where party chief and CM Mamata Banerjee was present - Dev said he was staying back in politics, adding that it was for Banerjee that he was doing so.
Before Monday, there was buzz in political circles that Dev was unwilling to continue as MP.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the timing of the ED summons to Ghatal MP Dev - just three days after he expressed his admiration for Mamata Banerjee, while saying he would stay on in politics - was an example of BJP's vendetta politics.
"Dev didn't bow his head in spite of intimidation. He has said that he is with TMC under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and would contest this Lok Sabha election from the same Ghatal seat. The ED notice, right after that statement, proves that BJP is using ED to threaten TMC leaders," Ghosh said, adding, "Had he shifted allegiance to BJP, he wouldn't have got a notice. He has been summoned because he is with TMC."
Dev had been questioned by CBI in connection with the same case at its Kolkata office two years ago, on Feb 15, 2022. The MP himself did not react to TOI's queries. But a source close to him said he would attend the summons in Delhi.
In Mahua Moitra's case, the ED has not disclosed any details of the specific charges. She was unavailable for comment.
Moitra, who used to be the Trinamool MP from Krishnanagar, had been disqualified from Lok Sabha last year after the Ethics Committee recommended her expulsion based on an affidavit from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani, claiming that he got her to raise questions in the Lower House to target his business rival, Gautam Adani. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Moitra's former partner, Jai Dehadrai, had claimed that she had received cash and gifts from Hiranandani for raising questions in Parliament.
She, however, has maintained that allegations against her are not true.
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