The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, who is accused of allegedly paying Rs 100 crore to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in return for liquor licences in the Capital.
She is currently under the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody at Tihar jail over the matter. Kavitha was arrested from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.
This comes days after a Delhi court had given permission to the central probe agency to interrogate the BRS MLA. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja had allowed the CBI to visit the jail to record Kavitha’s statement, following the submission of a written notice to the jail superintendent concerned a day before.
The daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was held in Tihar Jail, where she was lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). CBI on Saturday had recently questioned Kavitha inside the prison after obtaining permission from a special court.
The BRS leader was questioned about the WhatsApp chats recovered from co-accused Buchi Babu’s phone and documents related to a land deal, after which an amount of Rs 100 crore was allegedly paid to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in kickbacks to swing the excise policy for the national capital in favour of a liquor lobby.
K Kavitha is likely to be produced before the court within the next 24 hours where the CBI will seek her custody. The central probing agency had registered an FIR in an excise scam under Prevention of Corruption and 120B conspiracy, in which ED investigation revealed that Kavitha had given a bribe of Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party.
