BRS’s K Kavitha detained by CBI for 3 days in Delhi liquor policy case

New Delhi:

Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, who was arrested in March in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam, has been detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation for three days. She was previously in judicial custody in Delhi’s Tihar Jail till April 23 in a related money laundering case.

Ms. Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in Hyderabad last month and sent to custody after her brother and former Telangana minister KT Rama Rao got into an argument with an enforcement team.

She was arrested by the CBI on Thursday night from judicial custody in Tihar.

Ms. Kavitha was questioned by CBI officials inside Tihar jail last week.

The CBI has sought five days’ detention of Ms Kavitha, arguing that witness statements, WhatsApp chats and financial documents point to her being a “major conspirator” in a scheme to pay a Rs 100-crore bribe to Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party for liquor licenses under the now-abandoned policy.

The central agency “demanded Kavitha’s arrest… custodial interrogation by confronting her with evidence and witnesses to expose the larger conspiracy hatched by the accused/suspects regarding formulation and implementation of GST policy” told the court.

The CBI also said Ms Kavitha’s custody was needed to “uncover traces of ill-gotten gains, ascertain the role of other accused/suspects and unearth the facts that are exclusively known to her”.

The “money path” has been one of the focal points of this case; so far, authorities have been unable to trace the cash involved in the bribery – a point that the AAP has emphasized many times.

The central agency told Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court that a liquor trader from south India met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to obtain such a license and was told to do so through Kavi Ms Sa coordinated the payments with others, including AAP’s former communications director Vijay Nair.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, which arrested Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, relied on the testimony of accused-turned-witnesses such as Dinesh Arora to make their case. Mr Arora claimed to have paid Rs 900-100 crore to Mr Nair.

Earlier in the day, Ms Kavitha’s lawyer pointed to the timing of the arrest – a month before the Lok Sabha elections – and said there was “no reason” to detain her. Her legal team argued that this was a violation of due process and “a gross abuse of the legal process.”

Ms. Kavitha’s team also pointed out that the case against her client did not follow the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), under which it is almost impossible to obtain bail.

“This is not a PMLA case… purely a police case. Is this a compelling reason (to seek detention)? To confront her with evidence? If that is the basis, it is completely unreasonable, illegal and unconstitutional!”

Ms. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has been accused of being a member of the “South Group” involved in paying bribes of crores of rupees to the AAP.

It is said that these profits are generated due to the high profit margins allowed by the AAP on alcohol sales – 185% for retailers and 12% for wholesale outlets. Half of the latter, ultimately worth Rs 600 crore, was paid as kickback and AAP allegedly used the money to fund poll campaigns.

The ED termed the Delhi chief minister, who is lodged in Tihar Jail II, as a “main conspirator” and moved the Supreme Court after the high court rejected a plea to declare his arrest invalid.

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