BRS’s K Kavitha moves Supreme Court against arrest in Delhi liquor case

Derry liquor case: Rouse Avenue court on March 16 remanded her in custody until March 23

New Delhi:

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha on Monday moved the Supreme Court challenging her arrest in a money laundering case related to irregularities in Delhi’s excise tax policy.

Kavitha was arrested from the emergency room in Hyderabad on Friday and later taken to Delhi. After a day of questioning, her home was raided and she was arrested.

Earlier on March 16, the Louth Avenue Court remanded Kavitha in custody until March 23, 2024.

K Kavitha was produced before a high-security court in the presence of many media persons, lawyers and party workers.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari and advocate Nitesh Rana appeared for K Kavitha. Lawyers Wajeeh Shafiq, Anuj Tiwari and Deepak Nagar also appeared for the accused K Kavitha. However, Zoheb Hossain, special adviser to the education ministry, and Naveen Kumar Matta, special prosecutor, appeared on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate.

Chowdhury argued that the arrest was a flagrant abuse of power. They are clearly violating the Supreme Court order that protects us. He further said that in accordance with the law, her arrest was suspended until March 19.

He further added that the vindictiveness and malice of the Enforcement Directorate is all the more evident as despite the issue/prayer not being brought before the Supreme Court, the mobile phone of the petitioner has not been seized, resulting in the officials having taken action on March 15, 2024 due to violation of privacy A so-called search was carried out.

The ED further contended that it was an admitted position that there was no written interim order in their favour. The statement we gave was that we would give 10 days before issuing a subpoena. If there is a prayer that no enforcement action be taken, and you cannot assume an interim order until there is a definite order. There is no dispute between the two parties and the undertaking has never taken any coercive measures against the applicant.

In the arrest warrant, the concerned ED investigation officer said: “I am of the opinion that Kalvakuntla Kavitha residing in Telengana-500034, Hyderabad, and DR Anil Kumar Kumar) is guilty of an offense punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003).”

“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me by Section 19(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (No. 915 of 2003), I hereby arrest the said Kalvakuntla at 15:03 hours at 5:20 p.m. Kavitha. She has been informed of the grounds for arrest in 2024. A copy of the grounds for arrest (containing 14 pages) has been served to her.”

Nearly two months ago, the education department issued a summons to the 45-year-old daughter of former Telangana minister and BRS chairman K Chandrashekhar Rao.

She was questioned three times in the case last year and the central agency recorded her statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The BRS MLC had in the past claimed that she had done nothing wrong and claimed that the BJP-led central government was “exploiting” ED as the BJP could not enter Telangana “through the back door”. Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation had also interrogated Kavitha in connection with the case. ED money laundering case has been filed by CBI FIR.

According to ED, Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who was arrested in the case last year, “was one of the key players in the entire scam involving payment of huge kickbacks and formation of Southern Group The largest cartel”.

Pillai and his associates were allegedly coordinating with various parties to implement the political understanding between the Southern Bloc and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, the investigation agency said.

ED has filed the first chargesheet in the case. The agency said that after an FIR was filed to confirm the CBI case, which was registered on the advice of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, nearly 200 raids have been conducted in the case so far.

The CBI probe was recommended based on the findings of a report submitted by the Delhi Chief Secretary in July, which revealed preliminary violations of the GNCTD Act, 1991, Transactions of Business Rules (ToBR), 1993, Delhi Excise Act, 2009 and Delhi Excise Rules, 2010 , officials said.

The Ministry of Education and the Confederation of Indian Industry alleged that there were irregularities in amending the excise policy, providing undue concessions to license holders, waiving or reducing license fees, and extending L-1 licenses without approval from the competent authority. certificate. The investigating agency said the beneficiaries transferred “illegal” proceeds to the accused officials and made false entries in the books to evade detection.

Based on the allegations, the tax department has decided to refund the deposit of around Rs 30 crore to the successful bidder in violation of laid down rules. The probe agency said the company was alleged to have incurred a loss of Rs 144.36 crore despite the absence of an enabling clause, allowing the tender license fee to be waived from December 28, 2021 to January 27, 2022 due to COVID-19. Treasury.

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