A Delhi Court granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to question BRS leader K Kavitha, who was arrested in connection with the excise policy case, in Tihar jail.
Former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha was apprehended by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 15 concerning a money laundering investigation associated with an alleged excise policy scam.
Special Judge for ED and CBI cases Kaveri Baweja permitted the agency to interrogate the BRS leader. The court’s decision came in response to a plea submitted by the CBI, seeking authorization to interrogate Kavitha while she is in judicial custody.
Earlier on Thursday, Kavitha had urged the court to free her on interim bail on account of her 16-year-old son’s exams for which he needed his mother’s “moral and emotional support”.
Kavitha has been accused of being a key member of the “South Group”, which allegedly paid the ruling AAP in Delhi kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital. She was sent to 14-day judicial custody last Tuesday, March 28.
The case pertains to the alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
The case originated from a report presented by Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena in July 2022, highlighting purported procedural deficiencies in the development of the policy. The report said “arbitrary and unilateral decisions” taken by AAP leader Manish Sisodia in his capacity as Excise Minister had resulted in “financial losses to the exchequer” estimated at more than Rs 580 crore.
