Supreme Court tags Kavitha’s plea against summoning by ED with Nalini Chidambaram matter

However, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said that Kavitha has not been summoned for investigation but for an inquiry.

However, Sibal countered this by saying that after the registration of complaint, she has been arrayed as an accused and is now being summoned for investigation.

Kavitha has already been questioned thrice by the ED at its headquarters in New Delhi — on 11, 16 and 21 March — for a combined total of almost 30 hours.

Related: Kavitha walks out after 10-hour grilling — 3rd this month

Issue similar to  Nalini Chidambaram, Abhishek Banerjee

Sibal said that a similar issue relating to Nalini Chidambaram, wife of former finance minister P Chidambaram, and Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is already pending before the court and the Kavitha matter should be tagged with them.

Sibal’s plea was opposed by the ED, which referred to an earlier judgement by a three-judge bench which it (ED) asserted had dealt with this aspect.

Observing that while deciding core issues, at times subsidiary issues get missed, the bench ordered tagging of Kavitha’s petition with that of Nalini Chidambaram’s and directed the listing of the matter after three weeks.

Related: ED accusations prejudiced, misconceived, says Kavitha

What Kavitha’s petition says

Kavitha, in her petition, has urged the apex court to quash the ED summons on the grounds that asking her to appear at the agency’s Parvartan Bhavan office in the national capital instead of her residence is contrary to the settled tenets of criminal jurisprudence and, thus, wholly unsustainable in law being violative of the Proviso to Section 160 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

She has also sought that the seizures made by the ED be declared as null and void.

The BRS leader has also sought that all proceedings to be carried out by ED, including those in relation to the recording of statements, be audio/videographed in the presence of her lawyer at a visible distance, inter-alia by way of installation of appropriate CCTV cameras.

Related: ‘ED forced witnesses to sign pre-dictated statements’

Political conspiracy, says Kavitha

Alleging a political conspiracy by certain members of ruling BJP at the Centre, Kavitha, in her petition, has alleged that despite her not being named in the FIR, certain members of the incumbent ruling political party had made scandalous statements linking her to the Delhi excise policy scam and the said FIR.

“The political conspiracy against the petitioner (Kavitha) unfortunately did not end with judicial intervention by way of the suit. The Enforcement Directorate filed a remand application qua one of the accused on 30.11.2022 before the concerned Court. This remand application contained the personal contact details of the petitioner,” the BRS leader’s petition said.

“There was no rhyme or reason to include the personal contact details of the petitioner in a remand application which did not even concern the petitioner. The act is all the more egregious considering the petitioner is a lady,” the BRS leader added.

Kavitha has said that the subsequent events are “extremely shameful” and in the “belief of the petitioner (Kavitha), were orchestrated by the Enforcement Directorate at the behest of the members of the incumbent ruling party at the Centre, as part of a larger conspiracy against the petitioner.”