The Adani group on Monday cited a lawyer’s complaint to the CBI against Trinamul MP Mahua Moitra to claim vindication of its contention that some groups and individuals were "working overtime" to harm the company’s name and market standing.

Moitra described the Adani group’s media statement as "lame", adding she would not rest till the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI investigated the alleged over-invoicing of coal imports by the conglomerate.

In a statement issued from Ahmedabad, the Adani group quoted the complaint to the CBI from Supreme Court laywer Jai Anant Dehadrai, which alleges "the commission of an elaborate criminal conspiracy" by Moitra and the Hiranandani group CEO, Darshan Hiranandani, for "specifically targeting" Gautam Adani and his group of companies through parliamentary questions.

The complaint further alleges that Moitra received "bribes and undue favours from" Hiranandani.

"This development corroborates our statement of 9 October 2023 that some groups and individuals have been working overtime to harm our name, goodwill and market standing," the Adani group's statement said.

"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 Mr. Gautam Adani has been in place since 2018."

Moitra, who has sent legal notices to Dehadrai, BJP parliamentarian Nishikant Dubey — who has filed a complaint with the Lok Sabha Speaker citing the lawyer's allegations against the Trinamul member – and media houses, quoted the Adani group statement and posted a riposte on X.

"Mr A - this lame statement your best efforts? Falling back on Fake Degree MP & a jilted ex's lies? I won’t rest till @dir_ed, @CBItweets investigate & freeze ₹13000 cr coal scam you have stolen from Indians. I’m told even Hon’ble @narendramodi is sick of you & your frauds," she wrote.

She put three questions to "A company" in a post.

"3 questions jittery A Company need to answer in next press statement: 1- Where is the national interest when you used a Chinese national and a UAE national and 3 offshore companies to over invoice ₹ 13000 crores of coal? 2 - Where is the national interest in you manipulating IOCL and GAIL in Dhamra LNG contract of ₹46500 crores without a tender? What is your national interest in getting coal mines in Rajasthan without a tender? 3 - Where is the national interest in SEBI letting your benami FPI holdings manipulate lakhs of crores in the market," Moitra wrote.

Moitra also took on the Union minister of state for electronics and technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had pulled out a parliamentary question (PQ) asked by Moitra on data localisation and posted on X that “this Parliamentary Question was likely asked by a MP at the behest of a Data center company”.

He had added: “If true this is indeed shocking and shameful. It is true that this company was actively and aggressively lobbying for Data Localization. Language used in PQ is very similar (linking need for data localization to data breaches) to that used whn 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 its a terrible travesty and misuse of PQs.”

Moitra had a ready comeback. Underlining that she was a member of the parliamentary panel on information technology and the JPC on data protection, she said: “This is valid question for all Indians. If hostile nation can steal data from apps - can’t they steal India user data stored overseas? Don’t insult my intelligence by alleging I’m fronting others. Something Ruia bag men do.”

The last bit seemed an allusion to Chandrasekhar selling, in his previous avatar as an entrepreneur, BPL Mobile to the Ruias of Essar fame.

Moitra also publicly asked IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to release details of the locations and login details of all MPs with CDRs (call data records).

“All parliamentary work of MPs done by PAs, assistants, interns, large teams. Respected @ashwinivaishnaw please release details of location & login details of ALL MPs with CDRs. Please release info on training given to staff to login,” she posted.

Dubey, in his complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker, had alleged that Moitra had allowed Hiranandani and his conglomerate access to her login credentials to the Lok Sabha website “so that they could utilize it for their own personal gain”. He had added that this “poses a direct threat to national security”.

The Hiranandani group has dismissed the “bribe for question” allegations as having “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 said.

Darshan Hiranandani is the son of realty baron Niranjan Hiranandani. According to the group’s website, Darshan is an MBA (specialising in entrepreneurship and finance) and BS (specialising in management information system) and heads the group’s real estate business in Dubai and energy business in India and abroad.

His Twitter handle says that apart from being CEO of the Hiranandani group, he is chairman of Yotta Data Services, H-Energy, Tarq Semiconductors and Tez Platforms.

Additional reporting by our business bureau