Cash-for-query case: Mahua Moitra alleges phone hacking attempt, receives warning from Apple

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who is being probed by Parliament's Ethics Committee over the alleged cash for query charge against her, on Tuesday alleged that the Centre was targeting her phone.

In a post on X , she wrote, "Received text and email from Apple warning me that the government is trying to hack into my phone and email. Home Minister's Office — get a life. Adani and PMO bullies — your fear makes me pity you."

She also tagged Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and said, "Priyanka Chaturvedi, you and I and three other Indians have got it so far."

She also attached the warning email and SMS text with her tweet to back her claims.

The development comes ahead of the Delhi High Court hearing on the defamation suit filed by Moitra regarding the allegations of accepting cash for asking questions in Parliament levelled against her by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai on Tuesday.

She has been asked by the Ethics Committee to appear before it on 2 November, after being initially asked to appear on 31 October. Following Moitra's letter, the committee again asked her to appear on 2 November.

Following the first summons, Moitra sent a letter to committee chairperson Vinod Sonkar, saying she would depose on any date after 5 November after her pre-scheduled constituency programme, and not on 31 October.

In her two-page letter to Sonkar, the MP from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar said an affidavit notarised at the Indian High Commission in Dubai on 20 October was submitted on a suo motu basis to the committee and released publicly to the media by businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who is alleged to have paid Moitra to ask questions against PM Narendra Modi and Adani Group head Gautam Adani.

She added that in a public interview to a news channel on 23 October, Hiranandani expressed his willingness to appear before the committee.

On 26 October, Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai gave "oral evidence" to the panel against Moitra.