Adani reacts to allegations against Mahua Moitra
The Adani Group on Monday latched on to a complaint of a lawyer forwarded by BJP MP to make its first direct attack on TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who has been at the forefront of criticizing the conglomerate ever since Hindenburg alleged fraud, saying groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm its name and market standing. The lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai first filed a complaint against Mahua for taking cash/ bribe from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions against Gautam Adani in Parliament.
Young lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who is said to be the estranged partner of Mahua Moitra, has a bitter feud running with the TMC leader over the custody of their pet dog. Moitra had filed multiple police complaints against him in the last six months for alleged criminal trespass, theft, vulgar messages, and abuse. It is widely believed that the young lawyer is behind the leakage of old partying photos of Mahua Moitra with flamboyant Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Mahua’s party TMC is distancing itself from the controversy that erupted in Social Media on Sunday.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Sunday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla alleging that Trinamool Congress MP took bribes for raising questions in Parliament to “protect the interest of a business group.” Dubey had claimed advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had “shared irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged” between Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani.
In a statement, Adani Group referred to Dubey’s complaint without referring to him by name but said a Dehadrai has “filed a complaint with the CBI in the form of a sworn affidavit bringing on record the ‘commission of an elaborate criminal conspiracy by Mahua Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani, CEO of Hiranandani Group for specifically targeting Gautam Adani and his group of companies through parliamentary questions.”
“He has further stated that, as a quid pro quo, Ms. Moitra received bribes and undue favours from Hiranandani,” the statement said. In Parliament and outside, Moitra had been making allegations against the Adani Group for the last couple of years.
After US short-seller Hindenburg Research in January came out with a damning report alleging financial fraud and stock manipulation at Adani Group, she has been perhaps the most vocal individual Parliamentarian of the conglomerate helmed by billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani Group, which had so far not made any direct attack on Moitra, in the statement referred to the complaints by Dubey and Dehadrai to say that they “corroborate” the conglomerate’s previous statements that “some groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm our name, goodwill and market standing.”
“In this particular case, the lawyer’s complaint reveals that this arrangement to besmirch the reputation and interests of the Adani Group and our Chairman Gautam Adani has been in place since 2018,” the statement said without elaborating. Responding to the charge, the Hiranandani Group denied the allegations saying they have “no merit.”
“We have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics. Our group has always worked with the government in the interest of the nation and will continue doing so,” a spokesperson of the Hiranandani Group said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrashekhar, said, “If true, this is indeed shocking and shameful.” “It is true that this company was actively and aggressively lobbying for data localization. The language used in PQ is very similar (linking the need for data localization to data breaches) to that used when the head of this company met me. “I am not aware or privy to the full facts or background on this — but if it is true, then it’s a terrible travesty and misuse of PQs (Parliament Questions),” he said in a post on X.
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Is it a corporate rivalry or a fight over a girlfriend? In either case the fight levels can go beyond the level of decency. Given the obvious proximity of the complainant there is good chance of evidence being quite real and even intimate. When close friends fall apart the fall can be very nasty. The Discretion gets thrown out of window over a glass of expensive wine and big hugs, and the social media suddenly becomes a great equalizer. More so when individuals project themselves differently in public.