Days after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker seeking a probe against TMC MP Mahua Moitra accusing her of taking luxury gifts for asking questions in Lok Sabha, things have rapidly escalated for the West Bengal politician. First, it was revealed that Dupey’s allegations were based on information provided to him by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, former partner of Mohua Moitra.
After that, the statement by Dehadrai appeared in public, giving detailed accounts of the allegations against Moitra. He said that Mahua Moitra received expensive gifts and other benefits from business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani, in exchange for asking questions in parliament targeting Gautam Adani, Hiranandani’s business rival in several sectors.
It was also alleged that Mahua Moitra had provided her Lok Sabha portal’s login credentials, allowing him to post questions directly on her behalf. While the TMC MP had denied the charges, things exploded on 19 October, when Darshan Hiranandani himself issued a statement, confirming the allegations. He confirmed that he was given Mahua Moitra’s Parliament login and password to post questions. Hiranandani also confirmed that he had given luxury gifts to Moitra, paid for her holidays and travels, helped her in renovating her house etc.
The real estate tycoon said that Mohua Moitra chose to target Gautam Adani to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as there was nothing to target the PM directly. Adding to the allegations, Darshan Hiranandani alleged that Mahua Moitra was getting unverified information from several people to target Adani. He specifically mentioned three names, Sucheta Dalal, Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff. Here, Sucheta Dalal is a well-known journalist, while Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff are advocates.
Mahua Moitra has issued a statement in response to Hiranandani’s statement, alleging that he was forced to issue the statement by putting a gun to his head. However, she didn’t refute charges that she had given him her Lok Sabha login ID and password and also didn’t deny getting gifts from him and asking questions based on his inputs. She added that Cyril Shroff, brother of Shadul Shoff mentioned by Hiranandani, is the Samdhi of Gautam Adani, and the two brothers had a bitter separation of the business. Before mentioning this Samdhi and his Bhai (brother), Moitra had also mentioned her ‘jilted-ex’. Here are the concerned persons and their links to the entire story.
Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff are lawyers, and they run one of the largest law firms in India, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Shardul Shroff is the Executive Chairman and his wife Pallavi Shroff is the Managing Partner of the law firm, and interestingly, they have an Adani connection. Especially, they were in a bitter fight with Shardul’s brother over the law firm, and that brother is a relative of Gautam Adani.
Shardul Shroff and his brother Cyril Shroff were managing partners of Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, a top law firm. However, there was a rivalry between the two brothers over the firm, and they decided in 2015 to split the company. They reached a settlement following mediation and decided that they would split the law firm established in 1917 by their grandfather.
The dispute was the result of the will by their mother Bharati Shroff, who had handed over her entire share in the law firm to Shardul Shroff. Shardul Shroff had moved the Delhi High Court seeking implementation of the will, triggering a bitter war between the brothers.
However, they finally decided to settle the matter by signing a Family Framework Agreement. According to this agreement, the shares of their mother were divided equally between them. As a result of the settlement, Cyril Shroff chose to not contest the implementation of the will, and Shardul Shroff chose to not go ahead with the lawsuit seeking implementation of the will.
Accordingly, Shardul Shroff now runs Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, while Cyril Shroff runs Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India’s largest full-services law firm. Now that Darshan Hiranandani has accused Shardul Shroff and his wife Pallavi Shroff of helping Mahua Moitra in the campaign against Gautam Adani by feeding unverified information, it becomes interesting to note that Shardul’s brother Cyril is related to Gautam Adani.
Paridhi Shroff is the daughter of Cyril Shroff and his lawyer wife Vandana Shroff. Paridhi is married to Karan Adani, the elder son of Gautam Adani. Therefore, Gautam Adani and Cyril Shroff are Samdhis, the Hindi word for fathers of spouses.
Karan Adani married Paridhi Shroff in a high-profile wedding ceremony in 2013, which was attended by several well-known guests including Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra. Paridhi Shroff is also a lawyer and is a partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Given the proximity of Cyril Shroff’s family with Adani and also with his brother, it is possible that Shardul Shroff and Pallavi Shroff had obtained information about the Adani group through Cyril’s firm, which then they passed on to Mahua Moitra.
Hence, there are several people involved in the story involving the ‘gift for questions’ charges against Mahua Moitra. There is Cyril Shroff, the Samdhi of Gautam Adani, and Shardul Shroff, who is the bhai or brother of Cyril Shroff.
There is also a ‘jilted-ex’ in the story, who is none other than advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, who unfolded the entire scam. Mahua Moitra has described him as her ‘jilted ex’, acknowledging their previous relationship. She alleged that the allegations against her were based on lies of a ‘jilted ex’.
There is also a dog in the story, named Henry. Apparently, both Mahua Moitra and Jai Anant Dehadrai are claiming ownership of this pet dog. Dehadrai has alleged that he had bought the dog, and now his ex Mahua Moitra has stolen it. He has even written to the Delhi police, seeking to get the Rottweiler dog back from the TMC MP.
