A Delhi court has extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) legislator K Kavitha till March 26 in connection with the money laundering charges linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case. The decision comes after the Supreme Court denied her bail and directed her to approach the trial court for the same.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order for further remand and instructed the probe agency to produce Kavitha on March 26 at 11:00 am. The ED had sought an extension, stating that Kavitha had conspired in the payment of kickbacks amounting to Rs. 100 crore.
Zoheb Hussain, representing the ED, informed the court that Kavitha’s mobile data was analyzed, and she was confronted with a forensic science report showing deleted data related to the money laundering case. The ED is also conducting searches at her nephew’s residence as part of the investigation.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was arrested from her Hyderabad residence on March 15. She was remanded to ED custody till March 23 initially, with the court emphasizing the need for her custodial interrogation to trace the trail of proceeds of crime.
While Kavitha has not been named as an accused in any of the charge sheets filed by the ED since November 2023, she is referred to as a key person in the excise policy-related irregularities. The primary allegation against her is involvement in a cartel that paid kickbacks to AAP leaders in exchange for retail zones under the Delhi excise policy.
The case also involves AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was remanded to ED custody till March 28 following his arrest for alleged involvement in the excise policy. The ED described Kejriwal as the “kingpin” and “key conspirator” in the case.
Kavitha is also under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner, which is conducting a parallel corruption probe in the case.
Sources By Agencies
