Delhi liquor policy case: BRS legislator K Kavitha sent to ED custody till March 23

“The arrest is a blatant abuse of power. They have violated the Apex Court orders,” said advocate Vikram Chaudhary who appeared for Kavitha before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court.

VIDEO | “It’s an illegal arrest, will fight it out,” says BRS leader K Kavitha (@RaoKavitha) as she is produced at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court.#DelhiExcisePolicyCase

(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/MQspgBtLNI

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 16, 2024

“It is a black day in the administration of justice where the SC proceedings are violated… they said in front of the Court that they will not summon the accused till the next date of hearing. Following this they sought adjournments. The moment the senior judge (S K Kaul) retired, they started issuing summons to the accused,” added Chaudhary.

In its application submitted in the court on Saturday, the agency alleged that Kavitha met Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (co-accused) in March 2021, and told him that Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal had spoken to her and that he demanded Rs 100 crore – she had allegedly also asked Reddy to arrange Rs 50 crore for the same.

Kavitha’s counsel argued that the accused – who was a woman – was arrested after sunset which wasn’t allowed as per law.

Chaudhary also asked the ED what prevented them from waiting for 3 days and getting an order from SC. “…you wanted to become the judge, jury and executioner, it’s the worst thing,” he added.

Special Judge M K Nagpal also asked the agency why they could not’ wait for three days till March 19 when the matter was expected to be heard in the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, special counsel Zoheb Hossain, representing the ED, argued that there was no undertaking that they would not take any coercive step against Kavitha.

“In case there was an ever-continuing undertaking by us of no coercive action and that we won’t call you, then in January when we summoned Kavitha….you should have moved a contempt in the Supreme Court. Where is the Contempt?” Hossain submitted in court.

Hossain also said that the accused was arrested at 5.20 pm which was before sunset. “The search concluded at 6.45 pm…Around 20 people barged in unlawfully and obstructed our search,” added the counsel claiming that they were not responsible for the delay in finishing their search.

It was argued by the special counsel that arrest was important because of the possibility of destruction of evidence as she had allegedly done so before. In an application submitted by the agency, it alleged that Kavitha during the recording of her statements in March 2023 presented nine phones for examination – all of which had been formatted and had no data.

“When asked who deleted the data in those devices and on whose instructions, Ms K Kavitha was evasive and couldn’t give any explanation for those formatted phones,” read the application.

Back in 2022, Kavitha first found herself in the eye of a storm as BJP leaders in New Delhi accused her of being involved in the alleged liquor policy scam, in which former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia is among the arrested. The allegations surfaced at a time when the BJP was trying to make inroads in Telangana, facing resistance from the BRS.

In two prosecution complaints (equivalent to chargesheets), the ED had claimed that members of the so-called South Group – which they claimed Kavitha was associated with – paid bribes to exploit the loopholes in the excise policy that would secure their uninhibited access to various wholesale businesses and retail zones in violation of rules.

The ED complaint further stated that to “recover the kickbacks given by the ‘South Group’, partners of the group were given 65 per cent stake in M/s Indo Spirits in collusion with its owner Sameer Mahendru, who is also an accused in the case.

The ED in its application submitted on Saturday alleged that co-accused Arun Pillai was a proxy for Kavitha in Mahendru’s Indospirits. Replying on the chats of another co-accused and approver Raghav Magunta with Kavitha’s CA Buchi Babu, the agency further alleged that 33 per cent of Mahendru’s company’s shares went to Kavitha.

The ED had also earlier alleged that Kavitha spoke to Mahendru in September 2021 on Facetime, “congratulated Sameer for Delhi business”, and was “happy that they have partnered up”.