BRS leader Kavitha’s bail plea in Delhi excise policy case to be heard by Supreme Court on August 20; bench seeks responses from CBI, ED
The hearing of the petitions follows a Supreme Court order granting bail to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the same case
File picture of BRS leader K. Kavitha
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Supreme Court on Monday sought the responses of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in a plea for bail filed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K. Kavitha in two cases of corruption and money laundering linked to the Delhi excise policy scam.
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A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan issued notice to both Central agencies on the bail pleas of Ms. Kavitha, who is the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao. The case is posted for hearing on August 20.
The hearing of the petitions follows a Supreme Court order granting bail to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the same case last week.
On July 12, the apex court had granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on ED’s money laundering charges against him in the excise policy case.
On Monday, the hearing in Ms. Kavitha’s bail plea followed a separate petition filed by Mr. Kejriwal seeking bail in the CBI’s corruption case against him. The Chief Minister has sought an urgent hearing.
Appearing for Ms. Kavitha, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said his client has been behind bars for five months now. Her case for bail was squarely covered by the apex court’s judgment granting bail to Mr. Sisodia and Mr. Kejriwal — the latter in the ED case.
The Delhi High Court had denied Ms. Kavitha bail on July 1. The trial court had in May dismissed her bail applications in the CBI’s corruption case as well as the money-laundering case registered by the ED.
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The “scam” pertains to alleged corruption and money-laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22. The policy was later scrapped.
The ED had arrested 46-year-old Kavitha from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The CBI subsequently arrested her from Tihar jail.
The ED has alleged that Kavitha was a part of liquor cartel ‘South Group’ which paid kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in return for favours under the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Ms. Kavitha’s arguments had highlighted the restriction placed on police officers under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against summoning women or questioning them at any place other than their own homes.
She had argued that the ED was using the power to summon persons as an intimidation tactic. Ms. Kavitha had maintained that there was no case against her and she was implicated in the case on the basis of statements extracted out of certain persons using coercion.
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