Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent BRS leader Kalvakuntla Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23, in connection with a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) produced her before the court after the expiry of her three-day police custody, seeking judicial custody.
CBI in its remand application said that during the police custody remand, Kavitha Kalvakuntia has been examined/ interrogated. However, she did not co-operate with the investigation and deliberately gave evasive replies contrary to the evidences on record, it added The probe agency further stated that “During the confrontation, she could not give proper explanation for transfer of Rs.14 crores from company of Sharath Chandra Reddy in the guise of land deal, her meetings with the accused Vijay Nair, her meeting with Magunta Sreenivasalu Reddy, transfer of money to her by the accused Butchibabu Gorantla and other facts related to the criminal conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, it added.
CBI further stated that “in the light of aforesaid facts and circumstances, her further custodial interrogation is not required at this stage. As already submitted in foregoing paras that she is deliberately and intentionally evading the just and relevant questions related to the case. She, being a prominent politician, is a very influential person, as such, there are credible reasons to believe that she may influence the witnesses and the potential witnesses, who are yet to be examined, tamper with the evidence to be further collected and may hamper the ongoing investigation, it added.
Further investigation is going on and the same is at the very crucial stage. Some crucial witnesses are yet to be examined and documents / digital evidence are yet to be collected, it added During the interrogation, the Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS) leader was asked about WhatsApp conversations retrieved from co-accused Buchi Babu’s phone and documents pertaining to a land deal, allegedly involving a payment of Rs 100 crore to the AAP as kickbacks to influence the excise policy in favor of a liquor lobby in the national capital.