K Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and two others allegedly gave Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi to get benefits from the new liquor policy, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader has responded strongly to the allegations, saying that irrespective of how many times a lie is repeated, it still does not become the truth. "Truth will prevail," she has said.
The central agency has named K Kavitha in the chargesheet filed in money laundering case linked to the Delhi liquor policy case. K Kavitha was part of the "South Cartel" that benefited from kickbacks in the liquor policy case, the ED has alleged.
The chargesheet says that a company named Indo Spirits Ltd secured a wholesale licence under Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy. One Arun Pillai, it alleges, invested Rs 3.4 crore in the company and made a profit of Rs 32.36 crore. Ms Kavitha got a 32.5 per cent stake in Indo Spirits Ltd through Mr Pillai, her friend, the ED has alleged.
BJP leader Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy shared a news report on the ED's allegations and referred to the BRS leader as a "liquor queen". Hitting back sharply, K Kavitha asked the BJP leader to mind his words nd said that even if her name is mentioned 28,000 times, the allegations won't become true.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government scrapped the liquor policy in July after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena flagged alleged corruption and told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into it. While CBI is investigating the corruption charges, the ED is tracking the money trail in the matter.
The CBI questioned Ms Kavitha, a former MP and now a Member of Legislative Council, for over seven hours at her Hyderabad home on December 11.
Ms Kavitha, businessman Sharath Reddy and YSR Congress Party MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy gave Rs 100 crore to the government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for favourable benefits under the new liquor policy, the ED has alleged.
The accused put into motion a complex play of bribes to promote liquor trade cartelisation through the backdoor, the investigators have said, while on the outside the Delhi government made the new policy seem like it would stop cartelisation and encourage fair trade.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also one of the accused in the case. The Delhi government has said the Lieutenant Governor's decision on the liquor policy was wrong, as the city government lost hundreds of crores in projected revenue after it scrapped the policy.
Ms Kavitha has denied the allegations and has accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of sending the ED to any state where elections are due.
Earlier this month, she said ED and CBI cases against leaders of her party were "low level politics". "You cannot win elections using your central agencies," she said, alleging that the BJP has "destabilised nine states in eight years".
She accused the BJP of conspiring to destabilise the KCR-led state government, and using central agencies to "defame" them.
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