BRS MLC Kavitha leaves ED office after over 8 hrs interrogation in Delhi excise policy case

BRS leader K Kavitha was questioned for over eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here and confronted with an arrested person in connection with a probe into a money laundering investigation into the Delhi excise policy corruption case.

With police and paramilitary forces deployed amid a protest by BRS workers, Kavitha arrived at the ED office at around 11:15 AM where she was confronted by Arun Ramachandran Pillai, one of the accused who is in custody and an alleged frontman of the 'South Group', which allegedly paid Rs 100 crore as bribe to the AAP government for preferential treatment in the liquor business. She left the ED office at around 8 PM.

Pillai, meanwhile, has approached a Delhi court accusing the ED of forging his statement. The court has issued a notice to the ED and directed it to file its reply by March 13.

In his application, Pillai has sought to retract the statements recorded before the ED. He alleged that the ED forced him to sign two documents and presented them as his statements, including one in November 2022.

According to the ED, the 'South Group' is a liquor cartel linked to Kavitha, Aurobindo Pharma promoter Sarath Reddy, YSR Congress MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and others. It also claimed in Pillai's remand paper that he "represented the benami investments" of Kavitha in the case.

It also claimed on the basis of a statement of Butchi Babu, a Chartered Accountant who is said to be linked to Kavitha, that "there was political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy chief minister (Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021".

The ED had asked Kavitha to appear before it on Thursday but she had asked them to give a fresh date as she wanted to face the investigators after holding a protest demanding passage of the Women's Reservation Bill.

The agency, which has arrested 12 people that includes former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, had then given March 11 as the fresh date to Kavitha, who was earlier questioned by the CBI in the case.

It had registered a money laundering case on the basis of a CBI FIR, which alleged irregularities and corruption in the formulation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy that favoured cartelisation of alcohol business in the capital.

The excise policy came under the CBI and ED scanners after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe following a report by the Chief Secretary.