BRS MLC K Kavitha Arrives At ED Office For Questioning In Connection With Delhi Liquor Policy Case

Telangana Chief Minister's daughter and BRS MLC K Kavitha arrived at the ED office for questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.

BRS MLC K Kavitha on Monday arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Delhi to join the second round of questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. This comes after the central agency last week recorded the statement of Buchchi Babu, the BRS MLC's former auditor and also a member of the "South Group".

Her second round of questioning had to be done on Thursday last week but she skipped the summon.

Kavitha, the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, 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.

Following that, the ED sent her another summon to join the investigation on March 20.

PTI reported sources in the ED as saying that her plea was rejected in view of the ongoing investigations which are at an important phase including the requirement of her physical and document-based confrontation with other accused arrested/involved in the case.

In her letter, the BRS MLC spoke about her first deposition before the ED where she said she "furnished all relevant information and answered all queries to the best of my knowledge, ability and understanding".

Kavitha expressed "shock" that her phone was "impounded" by the agency that day and she was not physically confronted with any arrested accused despite the agency's earlier "categoric assertion" for the same.

PTI reported official sources as informing that during the nine hours that Kavitha spent at the ED office in Delhi on March 11, she was confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested accused in the case who is said to share close ties with her, apart from those of few others involved in the case.

Pillai, the ED had said, "represented the south group", an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21.

The BRS MLC's statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).