Liquor Policy Case: Delhi Court Reserves Order on K Kavitha's Bail Plea

The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi on Monday reserved the order on the bail plea moved by Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in connection with CBI case related to the Excise Policy case.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja on Monday fixed May 2 for pronouncement of order in the matter.

The plea further stated that the ruling party at the Centre is using investigative agencies to publicly connect the petitioner to the Delhi Excise Policy so that further coercive actions can be taken against her. The investigating agencies are well aware that there is no substance in the allegation of the petitioner's involvement in the alleged scam. The intention behind the purported investigation against the petitioner is not to ascertain her involvement in the alleged scam, since it is painfully clear that none exists.

The political masterminds are well aware that if the petitioner can be connected to the alleged scam, it will bring her, and by logical implication, her father, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Telangana, into disrepute. The political mileage gained from such actions can be used in the general elections scheduled for 2024. This is the sole and singular motive of the purported investigation. This is political propaganda at its shameful lowest, even by the not-so-high standards in Indian politics, stated bail plea.

BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week. She was arrested by CBI while in judicial custody in the ED case.

Advocate Nitesh Rana, along with Deepak Nagar and Mohit Rao, appeared for the K Kavitha in the matter.

Earlier, the CBI remand application stated that "Kavitha Kalvakuntla was required to be arrested in the instant case to conduct her custodial interrogation for confronting her with the evidence and witnesses to unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused, suspect persons regarding the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy, as well as to establish the money trail of ill-gotten money generated and to establish the role of other accused/suspect persons, including public servants, as well as to unearth the facts which are in her exclusive knowledge."

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested K Kavitha, MLC, Telangana Legislative Council, on March 15, in the case of the alleged liquor policy scam.

The CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary's report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials said.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval. The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.

As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.

Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said adding that there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)