K Kavitha sent to CBI custody till April 15 in Delhi’s excise policy case

The agency sought her custody remand for five days after they submitted that she was one of the key conspirators.

A Delhi court on Friday sent Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till April 15 in the alleged Delhi liquor excise policy.

Kavitha was arrested on Thursday by CBI from Tihar jail, where she was lodged in judicial custody in the parallel money laundering case.

The agency sought her custody remand for five days after they submitted that she was one of the key conspirators.

The CBI had earlier gone to the Tihar Jail on April 6, after taking permission from special judge Kaveri Baweja on April 5, and quizzed her while she was in judicial custody.

Advocates Vikram Chaudhary along with Nitesh Rana and Deepak Nagar opposed the application stating that the evidence that is being claimed by the agency are old.

“These evidence and statements on which CBI is relying are much older and have no proximity link or connection with the necessity to arrest”, Chaudhary argued.

They also argued that all rules and forms of law have been violated.

“Principles of natural justice have been given a complete go-by”, he added.

It was also averred that section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has not been followed by the agency as no grounds of arrest were informed of or communicated to her.

They also pointed out that the timing of the arrest is also very crucial as Kavitha is a sitting MLC in Telangana and is a renowned leader of a national political party and the Lok Sabha polls in Telangana are about to begin.

The court after hearing both parties, sent Kavitha to CBI custody for a period of three days. She will now be produced before the court on April 15 at 10am.

Kavitha was initially arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 15 from her residence at Hyderabad and has been in judicial custody since March 26.

She is one of the most high-profile arrests made in the case, after the former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh — both senior AAP leaders — were arrested at different points last year and the chief minister of Delhi Kejriwal, who was arrested on March 21, this year.

The Supreme Court on April 2 had granted bail to AAP leader Singh.

The court had, earlier this week, also dismissed an interim bail application moved by her citing her minor son’s examination while noting that the materials placed on record show her “active involvement” in the offence and that she was involved in destruction of evidence and influencing the witnesses.

ED has referred to her as a key person in irregularities surrounding the excise policy.

She has also been alleged to be one of the persons in the “South Group” who paid advance kickbacks of ₹100 crore to the leaders of AAP to get favourable changes done in the excise policy. She was also alleged to be a shareholder in the company Indospirits.

To date, she has not been named in any of the chargesheets filed by the CBI or the ED.

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