Ethics panel approves expulsion of Mahua Moitra from Parliament in cash-for-query case

According to reports, six members of the panel had voted in favour of the expulsion.

The recommendations of the Committee will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday.

The Ethics Committee on Wednesday recommended the expulsion of Moitra from the Lok Sabha.

Calling Moitra's actions "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal", the committee said it calls for severe punishment.

In the operative part of the 500-page report accessed by NDTV, the committee has also recommended that a "legal, intensive, institutional and time-bound investigation" be held into the entire matter.

The Committee has concluded that Mahua Moitra had shared her user ID with "unauthorised persons", took cash and amenities from businessman Darshan Hiranandani and it was "serious misdemeanour" on her part which calls for "serious punishment".

"The money trail of cash transactions between Smt Mahua Moitra and Shri Darshan Hiranandani as a part of a 'quid pro quo' should be investigated by the government of India in a legal, institutional and time-bound manner," the report read.

The report will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker during the winter session of parliament and action will be taken after a discussion.

Moitra is expected to appear before the committee at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The MP had stormed out of the last meeting, held last week, objecting to their line of questions and in a letter to the Speaker, accused the committee of subjecting her to "proverbial vastraharan (stripping)".

Ethics panel chief BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar had reportedly focussed on Moitra's personal relationship with Darshan Hiranandani. There were questions too on Jai Anant Dehadrai, on whose complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation the entire case rests.

The Committee has accused Moitra of failing to cooperate. "Mahua Moitra did not cooperate with the committee and the investigation. The Opposition members also made allegations in anger and suddenly walked out of the meeting to avoid answering more questions," Sonkar had said.