Delhi court extends K Kavitha's ED custodial interrogation till March 26 in excise policy case

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the same case on March 22.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday remanded BRS leader K Kavitha for further custodial interrogation of the Enforcement Directorate till March 26 in Delhi liquor policy scam case.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja allowed a plea by the central agency to quiz her further in the money laundering case lodged in August, 2022, in which Delhi Chief Minister was also arrested on March 21.

Kavitha, MLC and daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, was arrested from her residence in Hyderabad on March 15 and remanded to ED's custody till March 23.

The agency alleged that she was a part of the South lobby which had paid an illegal gratification of Rs 100 crores in cash to the politicians and public servants in Delhi for manipulating the liquor policy of the Delhi government and she was also a major beneficiary of this. 

On Saturday, ED's counsel sought five more days of her custody, saying the digital data on her devices have been extracted and analysed, which showed deliberate deletion.

The agency's counsel Zoheb Hossain said summons were issued to Kavitha's nephew for utilising proceeds of the crime but he has not appeared and cooperated. Thus, searches were conducted at several locations earlier in the day.

Kavitha's counsel Nilesh Rana sought to file a bail plea saying it may be considered on the day her custody remand ends. However, on objection by the agency, he preferred not to file or press it while requesting the court to consider it on the next date.

On March 22, the Supreme Court had declined consider to her plea against the arrest, asking her to approach the trial court, saying it can't allow bypassing the statutory provisions and procedure just because she was a politician and afford to approach the top court.

The ED alleged that Kavitha was a part of the South lobby, which had paid an illegal gratification of Rs 100 crores in cash to politicians and public servants in Delhi for manipulating liquor policy of the Delhi government, and that she was a major beneficiary.

The agency registered the money laundering case on August 22, 2022 in relation to the scheduled offences for which the CBI had lodged its own case on August 17, 2022. It was in connection with irregularities committed in framing and implementation of the excise policy for the year 2021-22 and for the payment of bribes.