Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 11: Under detention following arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha was on Thursday placed under arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the alleged money laundering linked to the Delhi liquor scam.
She was arrested by the CBI in the Tihar jail where she was in detention following her arrest in the same case by the ED. The arrest by the CBI comes days after the CBI questioned her in the jail earlier this week.
The daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Kavitha has been accused of being a key member of the “South Group,” which allegedly paid the ruling AAP in Delhi kickbacks of ₹ 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital. She was sent to 14-day judicial custody last Tuesday.
The 46-year-old had been arrested on March 15 by the Enforcement Directorate from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad.
CBI officials had recently questioned Kavitha inside the prison after obtaining permission from a special court. The BRS leader was questioned about the WhatsApp chats recovered from co-accused Buchi Babu’s phone and documents related to a land deal, after which an amount of ₹ 100 crore was allegedly paid to the AAP in kickbacks to swing the excise policy for the national capital in favour of a liquor lobby.
The CBI officials had gone to Tihar Jail on Saturday to question Kavitha on these aspects of the case. Ms Kavitha, in a letter to the court, said the investigation by central agencies – which she called a “media trial” – has hit her reputation and invaded her privacy.
“I’m a victim. My personal and political reputation has been targeted. My mobile phone is displayed on all television channels, directly invading my privacy,” she said in the letter which was read out in the court by her lawyer. “I have cooperated with the agencies and given all the bank account details. I will hand over all the mobile phones which the ED claim that I have destroyed,” the letter said.
The CBI had informed the special judge for ED and CBI cases, Kaveri Baweja, that it interrogated Ms Kavitha in Tihar jail on April 6 following the court’s order. The court had on April 5 allowed the CBI to quiz Kavitha in jail, an order which she has challenged.
The CBI made the submission in response to an application filed by advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for Kavitha, against the CBI’s plea seeking to interrogate her in judicial custody. The CBI told the court that since it has already quizzed Kavitha, it would not file a reply to her application.
Rana, however, told the court that he would like to make arguments on Kavitha’s application against the CBI’s plea. The court posted the matter for further proceedings on April 26. Advocate Rana had told the court that the central agency thwarted the due process of law by filing an application seeking permission to question her “behind her back.” Kavitha, 46, was arrested by the ED from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.
It has been alleged that Ms Kavitha was part of a “South Group’ which paid ₹100 crore in advance as “kickbacks” through the then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) communication and media in-charge Vijay Nair, who represented some AAP leaders.
According to the probe agencies, she and other members of the group had conspired with the top AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the then Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, for getting favours in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy.
The CBI had registered the case on August 17, 2022, against Mr Sisodia and 14 others on a reference from the Union Home Ministry. It was alleged that the excise policy was tweaked to extend undue favours to licence holders; licence fee was waived or reduced; and L-1 (wholesaler) licence was extended without the competent authority’s clearance.
The policy extended an extraordinarily high profit margin of 12% for wholesalers and almost 185% profit margin for retailers. In lieu of the alleged ₹100-crore “kickbacks”, the “South Group” partners were given 65% stakes in Indo Spirits company for the recovery of payments. These stakes were alleged to have been controlled through “false representation, concealment of true ownership and proxies.”