BRS leader K Kavitha jailed for 14 days in Delhi liquor policy case

New Delhi:

A Delhi court on Tuesday sentenced Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha to jail till April 9.

Ms. Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 15 in connection with the liquor policy scam that disrupted the city’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party. It was extended last week so she could see the data extracted from the phone.

However, in a surprise move today, the ED sought only 15 days of judicial custody, which means Ms. Kavitha may now be transferred to Delhi’s Tihar Jail instead of being lodged in the institution’s lock-up.

‘Political money laundering…’, claims K Kavitha

The ill-tempered BRS leader lashed out at her critics as she was led away from the Deira Laws Avenue court.

She said the case against her was “not money laundering, but political money laundering,” noting that the accusers had either joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party or donated money to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party through the controversial and now 500 million in scrapped election donations). bonds).

“This is a fabricated and false case. One accused joined the BJP, the second accused got votes from the BJP and the third accused gave electoral bonds of Rs 50 crore. This is political money laundering… We It will be innocent.”

What the ED told Louth Avenue Court

In its remand plea filed in court today, the agency said, “Ms. K Kavitha was clearly involved in paying kickbacks to government functionaries to obtain illegal benefits in the formulation and implementation of the GST policy…” and BRS leaders “Actually involved in the transfer of proceeds of crime of Rs 100 crore…the money was paid to AAP leaders”.

The agency also cited Ms. Kavitha for skipping a subpoena and claimed she “failed to make true and complete disclosures and failed to cooperate with the investigation.”

K Kavitha’s bail plea

Meanwhile, Ms. Kavitha sought interim bail citing her minor son’s school examination. As per the directions of the Supreme Court, the bail plea will be heard by the lower court on April 1.

Read | Supreme Court directs K Kavitha to move lower court to apply for bail

The request was countered by the agency, which wanted to be heard before passing such an order, pointing out that there are strict rules for bail for people charged under money laundering laws.

Why did ED arrest K Kavitha?

The Education Ministry has accused Ms Kavita – the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao – of being a key member of the “South Group”, which allegedly paid a bribe of Rs 100 crore to the AAP in exchange for the Delhi government’s stipulated Liquor License. A now-abandoned policy.

Read | Agency files huge claim against K Kavitha arrested in liquor policy case

The education ministry also believes that AAP used the money to fund its campaigns in Goa and Punjab.

Ms Kavitha was arrested in Hyderabad after a dramatic altercation between her brother, former Telangana minister KT Rama Rao and a team of Education Department officials, which also led to Ms Kavitha filing a complaint with the Supreme Court File a lawsuit. However, her appeal was quickly dismissed.

Read | K Kavitha’s brother gets arrest warrant, opposes relocation of institution

A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela Trivedi said they cannot allow individuals to be convicted just because of their influence Just bypass the lower courts.

The court did, however, issue a notice to the Center on her petition questioning the validity of PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), under which she was arrested.

The center has six weeks to respond.

Incidentally, the same bench will hear the same plea from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested last week in the same case. Shortly after Ms Kavitha’s request was rejected, he withdrew his request, fearing the same outcome. Mr Kejriwal is currently in emergency custody until Thursday.

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