After ED, CBI arrests K Kavitha in Delhi excise policy case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested BRS leader K Kavitha in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, India Today reported on Friday. She was taken under custody under sections of criminal conspiracy and falsification of accounts. 

This comes two days after the CBI informed a Delhi court that it had questioned Kavitha in Tihar Central Jail. She was under judicial custody in Tihar in a money laundering case being probed by the ED. Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on March 15.

The court had on April 5 allowed the CBI to quiz Kavitha in jail, an order which she has challenged. The CBI informed the special judge for ED and CBI cases, Kaveri Baweja, that it interrogated Kavitha on April 6 following the court's order. The anti-corruption agency 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.

Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, has been accused of being a key member of the "South Group", which allegedly paid the ruling AAP in Delhi kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in Delhi. The ED had arrested Kavitha from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.

On Monday, Delhi's Rouse Avencu Court rejected the bail plea of Kavitha, saying she was instrumental in influencing witnesses and there was every likelihood of her continuing to do so in case the relief prayed for was granted.

"The applicant can be, by no standards, said to be a vulnerable woman who could be made a scapegoat for committing the alleged offences. Rather, she is undoubtedly a well-­educated and well­-placed woman in the society,” the court said.