Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Monday interrogated Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Member of the Legislative Council, K Kavitha for over 10 hours in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, left the ED office at around 9.15 pm waving the victory sign. She will again appear before the ED on Tuesday.
Kavitha is being questioned over allegations of her involvement in the Delhi Excise Policy. Her role in the South Group, which apparently is the biggest beneficiary in the policy, and her links to several suspects named in the chargesheets are being probed.
The ED version is that several liquor traders benefitted from the policy and passed on part of the windfall gains to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi, as advance.
The former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, also the excise minister of the AAP-run government then, had formulated, endorsed and implemented the controversial policy.
Kavitha reportedly is a key member of the South Group of liquor traders which allegedly paid an advance of Rs 100 crore to secure favourable tweaks in the policy. The tweaks secured by South Group allegedly lead to massive cartelization at multiple vending levels violating suggestions of the expert committee and also led to the generation of windfall benefit to the liquor traders through increased commissions, parts of which was paid back allegedly to AAP through various middlemen.
Delhi government exchequer meanwhile had suffered an alleged loss of Rs 2873 crores in the wake of this excise policy.
After skipping the summons on March 16, Kavitha appeared before the ED to face the second round of questioning at around 10.30 am on Monday.
She had decided to stay away from appearing before the ED on March 16 citing that a petition challenging her questioning by the ED is pending before the Supreme Court. The apex court listed the matter for 24 but did not pass any interim order restricting the ED from questioning her. The ED had filed a caveat in response to her petition before the SC requesting to hear its submission before passing any order.
Kavitha had appeared for the first round of questioning on March 11, after skipping the summons to appear before the investigating agency on March 9. On March 16, she sent her authorised representative Soma Bharath (a BRS party office bearer) to the ED office instead, who handed over the case a six-page representation against her deposition along with her bank statement, and personal and business details to the investigating officer. Kavitha also wrote to the ED saying it must wait for the outcome of her plea before the Supreme Court challenging the summons and seeking protection from arrest. The apex court on Wednesday agreed to hear the plea on March 24.
Meanwhile, a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court extended the custodial remand of Arun Pillai, a key accused alleged to have close associations with Kavitha in connection with the case. Pillai was the 32.5 percent owner of a business entity that was a major beneficiary of the Excise Policy scam and Kavitha was allegedly a major stakeholder in that entity as per disclosure made by Pillai.
The ED was to confront Kavitha with Pillai among other accused and witnesses in custody. Also, the custody of Delhi’s ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been extended till March 20.
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Monday interrogated Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Member of the Legislative Council, K Kavitha for over 10 hours in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, left the ED office at around 9.15 pm waving the victory sign. She will again appear before the ED on Tuesday.
Kavitha is being questioned over allegations of her involvement in the Delhi Excise Policy. Her role in the South Group, which apparently is the biggest beneficiary in the policy, and her links to several suspects named in the chargesheets are being probed.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The ED version is that several liquor traders benefitted from the policy and passed on part of the windfall gains to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in Delhi, as advance.
The former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, also the excise minister of the AAP-run government then, had formulated, endorsed and implemented the controversial policy.
Kavitha reportedly is a key member of the South Group of liquor traders which allegedly paid an advance of Rs 100 crore to secure favourable tweaks in the policy. The tweaks secured by South Group allegedly lead to massive cartelization at multiple vending levels violating suggestions of the expert committee and also led to the generation of windfall benefit to the liquor traders through increased commissions, parts of which was paid back allegedly to AAP through various middlemen.
Delhi government exchequer meanwhile had suffered an alleged loss of Rs 2873 crores in the wake of this excise policy.
After skipping the summons on March 16, Kavitha appeared before the ED to face the second round of questioning at around 10.30 am on Monday.
She had decided to stay away from appearing before the ED on March 16 citing that a petition challenging her questioning by the ED is pending before the Supreme Court. The apex court listed the matter for 24 but did not pass any interim order restricting the ED from questioning her. The ED had filed a caveat in response to her petition before the SC requesting to hear its submission before passing any order.
Kavitha had appeared for the first round of questioning on March 11, after skipping the summons to appear before the investigating agency on March 9. On March 16, she sent her authorised representative Soma Bharath (a BRS party office bearer) to the ED office instead, who handed over the case a six-page representation against her deposition along with her bank statement, and personal and business details to the investigating officer. Kavitha also wrote to the ED saying it must wait for the outcome of her plea before the Supreme Court challenging the summons and seeking protection from arrest. The apex court on Wednesday agreed to hear the plea on March 24.
Meanwhile, a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court extended the custodial remand of Arun Pillai, a key accused alleged to have close associations with Kavitha in connection with the case. Pillai was the 32.5 percent owner of a business entity that was a major beneficiary of the Excise Policy scam and Kavitha was allegedly a major stakeholder in that entity as per disclosure made by Pillai.
The ED was to confront Kavitha with Pillai among other accused and witnesses in custody. Also, the custody of Delhi’s ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been extended till March 20.
