The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will present Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Friday. Kavitha was arrested earlier today by the CBI in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam. She faces charges under sections of criminal conspiracy and falsification of accounts of the Indian Penal Code, as well as certain sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Kavitha was taken into custody at 12.15 pm in Tihar Jail, where she was already under judicial custody in a money laundering case, according to her legal team.
The CBI had informed the court on Wednesday that Kavitha had been examined on April 6 in Tihar Jail in connection with the case. The CBI counsel told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, “we are not filing any reply, we have already examined her on April 6.”
On April 5, 2024, the Delhi Court had granted permission to the CBI to examine K Kavitha during judicial custody in Tihar Jail on any day of the coming week.
The CBI sought court permission to interrogate Kavitha regarding WhatsApp chats recovered from Buchi Babu’s phone and documents related to a land deal, post which Rs. 100 crores were allegedly paid to the Aam Aadmi Party in kickbacks.
K Kavitha was sent to judicial custody until April 23, 2024, by the Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday. She was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate recently in connection with a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested K Kavitha MLC, Telangana Legislative Council, on March 15, 2024, in the case of the alleged liquor policy scam. A search was also conducted at her residence in Hyderabad on the same day.
The ED investigation revealed that K. Kavitha, along with others, conspired with top leaders of AAP, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, to obtain favors in the Delhi Excise policy formulation and implementation. In exchange for these favors, she was allegedly involved in paying Rs. 100 crore to the AAP.
The ED has alleged that through acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickbacks from wholesalers was generated for the AAP.
The ED has filed one prosecution complaint and five supplementary complaints in the case so far. Assets worth Rs. 128.79 crore have been traced and attached via provisional attachment orders on January 24 and July 3 in 2023. Both attachment orders have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority in New Delhi.
The CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favors were extended to license holders, the license fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 license was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.
According to the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs. 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. A waiver on tendered license fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, despite no enabling provision, due to COVID-19, resulting in an alleged loss of Rs. 144.36 crore to the exchequer.