Court sends BRS leader K Kavitha to CBI custody till April 15 in Delhi excise policy case

DELHI'S Rouse Avenue Court on Friday, April 12, remanded Bharat Rasthra Samithi leader K Kavitha to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till April 15.

The CBI had sought custodial interrogation of Kavitha in connection with the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor excise policy 2021-22. 

CBI arrested Kavitha in Tihar jail, where she was lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged scam.

Kavitha was questioned about WhatsApp chats recovered from co-accused Buchi Babu's phone and documents related to a land deal. Allegedly, ₹100 crore was paid to Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in kickbacks to influence the now-scrapped excise policy in favour of a liquor lobby.

According to the news agency ANI, the CBI, in its remand application, said the BRS MLC “did not give a satisfactory answer and is concealing facts which are exclusively in her knowledge". 

“Earlier also she has not joined the investigation despite notice. So we need 5 days custodial remand of her to unearth the conspiracy," CBI's public prosecutor told the court.

However, Kavitha said the agency was asking the wrong questions. “I don’t have anything to say. They ask the same old questions. It’s a futile exercise. CBI is asking wrong questions," the BRS leader told newswire PTI outside the court. 

The CBI arrested the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 477-A (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 7 (offence relating to public servant being bribed) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The ED arrested Kavitha, 46, from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.