On Tuesday, a Delhi court ordered BRS leader K Kavitha to judicial custody until April 9, marking the conclusion of the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s custody.
The ED had sought 15 days of judicial custody for the accused. In response, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, representing Kavitha, requested the court to hear an interim bail plea, citing that her 16-year-old son’s exams are imminent.
The ED countered that if interim bail was to be deliberated, the agency should be permitted to submit a reply. The court granted the ED one week to file its response.
Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was placed in seven days of ED custody on March 17 about the Delhi liquor policy case following her arrest. Subsequently, on March 23, the court extended her ED custody by an additional three days.
On March 22, the Supreme Court declined to provide any relief to the BRS leader, directing her to seek bail from a trial court.
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader K Kavitha was arrested on March 15 after the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate officials raided her residence in Hyderabad. The Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter who is also a MLC has been under probe for her involvement in the Delhi Excise Police scam case and was questioned by ED earlier multiple times.
K Kavitha’s role in the scam came to light after the arrest of AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. According to the Enforcement Directorate, she is a member of the ‘South Cartel,’ which allegedly received payments in the case.
It has been alleged that Delhi’s AAP government’s new excise policy for granting licences to liquor sellers allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers, and the South Cartel paid bribes of ₹100 crore for the same. It was alleged that the South Cartel, which includes prominent personalities from the South, was one of the major beneficiaries of the policy. ED alleges that YSRCP Lok Sabha MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, BRS MLC K Kavitha, and Aurobindo Pharma-founder P V Ramprasad Reddy were prominent members of this group.
