In a major development in the Delhi liquor policy case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would interrogate MLC K. Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, on March 10 in Delhi. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader in the case on December 12 in Hyderabad for over seven hours.
The development comes days after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Manish Sisodia, former deputy chief minister of Delhi and one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party, in connection with the case. According to the Enforcement Directorate, she is a member of the ‘South Cartel,’ which allegedly received payments in the case.
The ED complaint alleged that Sameer Mahendru, the Managing Director of Indospirit Group, was contacted by the cartel members who expressed interest in his business, based on his assertion. He soon became ‘like family to Kavitha,’ and his alleged affiliation with their group was solidified via numerous phone conversations and meetings with her.
The summon was issued a day after the arrest of her frontman Arun Ramachandra Pillai, who allegedly played a key role in benami investments and bribery. Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramachandra Pillai and liquor baron Amandeep Dhall have been arrested by the ED as part of the probe into money laundering using the Delhi Excise Policy. In the remand report of Arun Pillai, the ED proclaimed, that he was a benami of Kavitha in the case.
A Delhi court ordered Pillai to be placed in ED custody until March 13 and Dhall to be kept in prison until March 21. The CM’s daughter was notified the next day.
She refuted the accusations in her reaction to the news and stated that she would seek legal advice. In her statement, she remarked, that the centre can’t unnerve her party with such attacks.
తెలంగాణ తల వంచదు
— Kavitha Kalvakuntla (@RaoKavitha) March 8, 2023
Ahead of our March 10 dharna along with the opposition parties and women organisations demanding the Women’s Reservation Bill at Jantar Mantar, I have been summoned by the ED on March 9th.
My statement : pic.twitter.com/DWbNuNNpnP
“I would also like the ruling party at the Centre to know that these tactics of intimidation against the fight and voice of our leader, CM Shri KCR, and against the entire BRS Party will not deter us,” the statement read.
“Under the leadership of KCR Garu, we will continue to fight to expose your failures & raise voice for a brighter and better future for India,” it further read.
The Delhi liquor policy, which was introduced in November 2021, was revoked by the AAP administration last year after Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, demanded a CBI investigation.
ED submitted its initial chargesheet in the matter last year. The investigating agency has so far conducted around 200 search operations in this case after filing a FIR and taking cognizance of a CBI case that was launched on the lieutenant governor of Delhi’s recommendation.
Officials reported, that the conclusions of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report, which was submitted in July, indicated that there were likely violations of the GNCTD Act of 1991, the Transaction of Business Regulations (ToBR) of 1993, the Delhi Excise Act of 2009, and the Delhi Excise Rules of 2010.
The ED raided around thirty locations in Delhi and Punjab in October.
The ED and the CBI charged, that unlawful actions were taken when changing the Excise Policy. As per the agencies, the licence holders received improper favours, the licence fee was waived or lowered and the L-1 licence was prolonged without the responsible authority’s consent. In order to avoid detection, the recipients produced fictitious entries in their books of accounts and channelled illegal gains to the charged individuals, the inquiry revealed.
The scam, which was launched in response to a referral from the Union Home Ministry, is said to have cost the exchequer Rs 144.36 crore.
