In an official press statement, the ED said that in exchange for favours from liquor policy, she was involved in paying ₹100 crore to the AAP leaders.
Kavitha moves Supreme Court.
BRS MLC K Kavitha on Monday, 18 March, moved the Supreme Court challenging her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and contended that it was illegal as it amounted to contempt of the apex court.
Kavitha, daughter of BRS supremo and former Telangana chief minister, is now under the ED’s custody, for violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the alleged scam pertaining to the implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy 2021-22.
The legislator said that the ED arrested her after assuring the Supreme Court that it would not and therefore the court may consider it as a case of contempt of the court.
In the petition that her advocate Mohit Rao filed with the apex court online, she sought action against the ED for going back on its word of not issuing a summons to her.
Meanwhile, the ED said its investigation revealed that Kavitha, along with others, conspired with the top leaders of AAP including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia to get favours in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise policy.
In an official press release, the ED said that in exchange for these favours, she was involved in paying ₹100 crore to the AAP leaders.
“By the acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickback, from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP. Further, Kavitha and her associates were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to AAP and to further generate profits and proceeds of crime from this entire conspiracy,” said the central agency.
The ED said that it had so far arrested 15 people including Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Vijay Nair from AAP, and Kavitha.
It has filed one prosecution complaint and five supplementary complaints in the case. The ED said that during the search at Kavitha’s residence, its officials were obstructed by her relatives and associates.
The ED said that to date, it had conducted searches at 245 locations across the country including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and other places.
Further, it said that it had identified the proceeds of crime generated assets worth ₹128.79 crore and have been attached (Provisional Attachment Orders dated 24 January, 2023 and 3 July, 2023). Both the attachment orders were confirmed by the adjudicating authority in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the ED continued grilling Kavitha for the second day on Monday at its office in Delhi. The officials rained questions from morning till evening.
On Sunday evening, the officials had let Kavitha’s family — including her husband Anil Kumar, brother KT Rama Rao, former state minister T Harish Rao and her counsel Mohit Rao — meet her.
They are understood to have told her not to be afraid of anything as they were preparing for a legal battle to get her off ED’s hook.
The ED officials, before arresting her at her Banjara Hills residence, made searches and seized several documents, and five cell phones — two belonged to her and the remaining three were being used by her assistants.
She was flown to Delhi on 16 March and was produced before the Rouse Avenue Courts which granted the ED her custody for seven days.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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