The ED had alleged that Kavitha was one among those who are part of ‘South Group’ which paid ₹100 crore in kickbacks to AAP for tweaking the liquor policy in such a way that it helped them reap undue benefit in liquor business.
MLC K Kavitha addressing the media. (Supplied)
BRS MLC K Kavitha will have to face grilling by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials for three more days till 26 March, in connection with violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in what has come to be known as Delhi Liquor Policy scam.
The ED officials, on expiry of the period of her custody with them, produced her in Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Saturday, 23 March. The court, after hearing the ED’s petition for further extension of her custody for five days, allowed it till 26 March.
The charge against Kavitha, who is daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, is that she was one of the kingpins and key conspirators, and beneficiary of the tweaked Delhi liquor policy, which has since been scrapped.
The ED had alleged that Kavitha was one among those who are part of South Group which paid ₹100 crore in kickbacks to AAP for tweaking the liquor policy in such a way that it helped them reap undue benefit in liquor business.
The ED is expected to grill her in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has also been remanded to its custody for six days.
The ED suspects that Kavitha had orchestrated a deal with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
After Kavitha was produced in the court, Special judge for CBI and ED cases, Kaveri Baweja issued an order extending her custody with the ED.
The probe agency arrested her at her posh Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on 15 March and produced her before the court in Delhi the next day, which allowed her custody with ED till 12.30 on Saturday, 23 March.
While she was being escorted into the hall on Saturday, Kavitha kept raising slogans, asserting that her arrest was illegal and politically motivated. She also said that she would fight a legal battle to emerge unscathed.
When the hearing began in the court, Zoheb Hossain, the counsel for ED, submitted that during their interrogation, they confronted her with the confession statements of four persons.
The counsel brought to the notice of the court that the forensic report which confirmed the deletion of data on the mobile phones submitted by her. The counsel said that the forensic report was placed before Kavitha and sought explanation from her.
The counsel said that though the ED had issued notices to Kavitha’s relative after they found that one of the phones she surrendered belonged to him.
Kavitha’s counsel Nitesh Rana, argued for granting of bail to his client, contending that she cannot produce the evidence that the ED was asking from her, which are in the form of documents, referring to the bail application moved by Kavitha.
When Hossain said that bail application was not maintainable at this stage, Rana urged the court to take it up as soon as the three-day custody by the ED ends.
Kavitha filed the bail application after the Supreme Court told her clearly on Friday, 22 March, that it has to be moved in the trial court first. It said it cannot take it directly just because the petitioner is a political person.
Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, the ED made searches at the residences of her relatives, including her husband’s sister’s in Madhapur. The searches are understood to have been based on information that the ED had extracted from her during their questioning.
(Edited by Shauqueen Mizaj)
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