The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Mahua Moitra and the CBI on a plea seeking to clear the decks for an investigation into the “cash for query” allegations against the Trinamool MP.

The order came on an appeal from the Lokpal against Delhi High Court’s quashing of the sanction that the anti-corruption ombudsman had granted to the CBI to probe the charges.

However, the apex court made it clear that it was not permitting Mahua’s prosecution at this stage, and would decide the legal issues involved first.

It further said the Lokpal need not comply with the high court directive that it has to grant the sanctions for investigation and prosecution together, and not separately. The Lokpal had only sanctioned an investigation against Mahua.

The bench also issued a notice to BJP parliamentarian Nishikant Dubey, whose complaint had set the stage for the registration of the CBI case against Mahua.

Delhi High Court had in December 2025, on an appeal from Mahua, quashed the Lokpal’s sanction on technical grounds without dealing with the merits of the allegations.

Interpreting Section 20 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and its sub-clauses 7 and 8, the high court had held that the Lokpal cannot give separate sanctions for investigation and prosecution but only a composite one.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Lokpal in the Supreme Court, said the ombudsman wanted the top court to clarify the law relating to sanction.

Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, said the agency supported the Delhi High Court judgment but wanted Mahua prosecuted.

Senior advocate Nidesh Gupta, representing Mahua, sought a status quo order until the top court had decided the legal issues.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi orally observed that its prima facie view was that the high court judgment needed deeper scrutiny.

“We are not permitting prosecution as of now… but we prima facie agree that the interpretation (by the high court) may be incorrect,” Justice Bagchi observed.

He said the top court prima facie believed that Section 20 envisaged the grant of sanction at two different stages — first, for investigation and later, for prosecution. He said the law appeared to also allow the Lokpal to grant sanction for the investigation to one agency and for the prosecution to another.

Dubey had levelled his accusations on the basis of a letter written to him by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, estranged friend of Mahua.

The letter had accused the Trinamool MP of sharing her parliamentary login ID with businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for bribes. This purportedly allowed Hiranandani to ask parliamentary questions about the Adani group on Mahua’s behalf.

After Dubey complained to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Parliament’s ethics committee found Mahua guilty and expelled her from the House in December 2023. She was voted back to the Lok Sabha in the 2024 general election.