Delhi court issues notice to CBI on K Kavitha’s bail application in liquor policy case

K Kavitha seeks interim bail while her regular bail application is pending (File)

New Delhi:

A municipal court on Monday issued a notice to the CBI regarding BRS leader K Kavitha’s bail application in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise tax scam.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, who is in charge of the CBI and ED cases, sent Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23 and directed the federal agency to submit its reply to the application by April 22.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the daughter of Telangana MLC and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao from Tihar Jail, where she was lodged after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case involving fraud. There. The CBI is probing the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy of the AAP government, while the ED is probing the money laundering aspect.

In her bail application in the corruption case, K Kavitha said she was the party’s “star campaigner” in the general elections. She sought interim bail while her regular bail application was pending.

She alleged that “the ruling party at the Center is using the investigative agencies to publicly link the petitioner to Delhi’s excise policy to take further coercive action against her”.

“It is clear to the investigating agency that there is no substance to the allegations that the applicant was involved in the alleged fraud. The purpose of the purported investigation into the applicant was not to establish whether she was involved in the alleged fraud, as it is painfully clear that The political masterminds are well aware that if the petitioner is associated with the alleged scam, it will bring shame to her as well as her father, the former Chief Minister of Telangana.”

Earlier in the day, the agency produced K Kavitha before the court on the expiration of three-day CBI remand and sought her sending to judicial custody, saying no further custodial interrogation was required.

The CBI told the court that Kavitha did not give satisfactory answers to questions put to her in the case.

“She also failed to disclose the true facts and gave evasive responses to most of the questions put to her. Her responses were contrary to the oral and documentary evidence collected by the CBI during the investigation. Although she was faced with the evidence and withheld She was aware of the facts,” the CBI told the court.

“No further custodial interrogation is required against her at this stage. As has been submitted … she has deliberately avoided impartial and relevant issues relating to the case. She is an outstanding politician and a very influential figure “, there are credible grounds to believe that she may influence witnesses and potential witnesses who have not yet been examined, tamper with evidence that requires further collection and may hamper ongoing investigations,” the CBI told the court.

The investigation is at a very critical stage, the statement said, adding that some important witnesses have not yet been examined and documentary and digital evidence has not yet been collected.

“We, therefore, would like to submit to the court that in the interest of investigation and justice, this court may be pleased to remand K Kavitha in judicial custody for 14 days,” the CBI said in court.

K Kavitha’s lawyer Nitesh Rana objected to the CBI’s plea, saying the charges did not constitute grounds for sending her to judicial custody.

CBI officials recently interrogated Kavitha inside the jail with court permission.

On March 15, ED arrested K Kavitha (46) from her residence in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

K Kavitha’s bail application in the money laundering case is also pending before the court.

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