BRS Leader Kavitha Skips ED Summons In Delhi Excise Policy Case

K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, skipped the third round of ED question today in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case.

K Kavitha skipped ED summons today in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case

Source : PTI

New Delhi: K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, today skipped the third round of ED question in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case, a day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear her plea against the Enforcement Directorate. 

As per reports, her legal representative will produce the relevant documents before the agency in Delhi today.

Kavitha was last questioned by the probe agency on March 11 and was summoned by the agency for the third time today, but she had approached the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing saying as per norms a woman cannot be summoned for questioning before ED in the office and her questioning should take place at her residence.

The advocate for Kavitha said that a woman is now being summoned by ED for questioning and that it is "completely against the law".

On Wednesday, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha agreed to hear the matter on March 24 but refused to grant her interim relief. 

According to ANI sources, Kavitha was to be made to sit face-to-face with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who was arrested in connection with the liquor policy case on Monday night.

The MLC had called the summons "tactics of intimidation" by the Centre against the Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS, adding that the party will continue to fight and expose the Centre's failures and will raise its voice for a brighter and better future for India.

Referring to the summons as "politically motivated", BRS leader Ravula Sridhar Reddy had said that except ED and BJP, nobody really understands the case registered in connection with the now-withdrawn New Delhi excise policy.

The Delhi government's version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience, as per ANI.

Notably, former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been arrested by ED in the same case. His bail request in the CBI case will be heard on March 21.

In December last year, Kavitha, a Telangana Legislative Council member, was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same case.

The CBI had filed a case against alleged corruption in the 2021-22 excise policy. The excise policy was subsequently withdrawn by the AAP government. Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI.