Delhi liquor scam: Summoned by ED, BRS MLC K Kavitha says will go, but on 11 March

BRS MLC Kavitha has asked the ED for a fresh date, owing to her proposed dharna on 10 March at Delhi. (Twitter)

BRS MLC Kavitha Kalvakuntla, who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear before it on 9 March, sought a fresh date from the probe agency.

While sources said she wanted that date to be preferably after 15 March, she herself took to Twitter to say that she would appear before the ED on 11 March.

I will be appearing before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi on March 11, 2023. https://t.co/OjAuzJZytS

— Kavitha Kalvakuntla (@RaoKavitha) March 8, 2023

This seemed to be in line with what the sources additionally noted, that the investigation agency was likely to give her a fresh date soon. They added that she arrived in Delhi late on Wednesday evening.

Earlier, the BRS leader said that she would fully cooperate with the investigation agency, but would seek legal opinion on the date of the deposition in view of her proposed dharna at Jantar Mantar on 10 March in support of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Kavitha is to be questioned in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, officials said on Wednesday.

Notice will not deter ‘fight’

“As a law-abiding citizen, I will cooperate with the investigating agencies,” said Kavitha in a statement on Wednesday.

She described the issuing of the notice as an act of intimidation by the BJP.

She also said that these tactics would not deter the “fight and voice of our leader, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao”, and the BRS.

“Under the leadership of KCR garu, we will continue to fight to expose your failures and raise a voice for a brighter and better future for India,” she said.

Pillai vs Kavitha

Kavitha has been called so that she can be confronted with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramachandran Pillai, an alleged frontman of the South Group who was arrested by the ED on Monday.

The agency is expected to record Kavitha’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) during this confrontation.

The agency earlier said that Pillai “represented the South Group”, an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others.

The ED has Pillai in custody till 12 March (to be again produced before a Delhi court on 13 March).

Thus, the agency was expected to give Kavitha a fresh date within Pillai’s custody period if she did not like 9 March.

The South Group, according to the agency, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat), Kavitha, and others.

The ED alleged in Pillai’s remand papers that he “represented the benami investments” of Kavitha in this case.

The BRS leader has been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this case earlier.

Also read: People laugh when ED, CBI issue notices these days, says BRS 

First mention of Kavitha in ED chargesheet

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