Delhi Liquor Policy Case: Court Rejects K Kavitha's Bail Plea

Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Monday dismissed interim bail application moved by BRS MLC K Kavitha in Delhi Liquor Policy Case.

On March 26, Kavitha was sent into judicial custody till April 9. She was arrested on March 15 by the ED. ( Image Source :pti )

Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Monday dismissed an interim bail application moved by BRS MLC K Kavitha in Delhi Liquor Policy Case. Kavitha had sought interim bail on the grounds of the school examinations of her minor son. In the last hearing the Enforcement Directorate had opposed her bail plea saying that concessions provided for women under law are not applicable to women politicians like K Kavitha.

A special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja dismissed the BRS leader's interim bail plea.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu appearing for K Kavitha referred to the twin conditions for bail mentioned in Section 45 of PMLA and cited various judgments on the subject. He argued that the basic principle of woman, rationale of legislature and discretion, all these things are preserved in previous verdicts by courts.

Kavitha sought interim bail to be with her 16-years-old son ahead of his exams next month. Singhvi insisted that the perspective of a mother cannot be substituted by the father or any other relative.

Zoheb Hossain appearing for ED, said that “woman” under Section 45 of PMLA are for those women who do not have agency and not to the ones who are leading politicians like Kavitha.

ED called Kavitha one of the prime movers of giving bribes. The central agency claimed that Kavitha is not only responsible for arranging kickbacks in advance but also beneficiary through Indo Spirits. 

On March 26, Kavitha was sent into judicial custody till April 9. She was arrested on March 15 by the ED.

A former MP and BRS leader Kavitha who is also the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was arrested last week for being part of the ‘South Group’ that allegedly benefitted from the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy brought in by the AAP government in Delhi.

The ED claims that the South Group got uninhibited access, undue favours, and secured stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones (over and above what was allowed in the policy). The ED has alleged that the now scrapped new excise policy was implemented by the AAP leaders as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12% to certain private companies in alcohol business.

According to ED, partners of this South Group were given a 65% stake in Indospirit in collusion with its owner Sameer Mahendru (another accused in this case). This was allegedly done to recover kickbacks given by the South Group.

Raghav Magunta, P Sarath Chandra Reddy who is also co-founder of Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma are also said to be partners in the South Group according to ED.

Buchi Babu who was CA to K Kavitha has revealed to the ED that Arun Pillai was working with Vijay Nair in policy formulation and Nair was offering provision for favouring K Kavitha. Nair worked with Sisodia and Kejriwal for the same, says ED's remand note in court.

The ED says that this has been corroborated by WhatsApp messages retrieved from Buchi Babu, wherein certain provisions of the Excise policy were found two days before it was notified. According to Babu's statement Nair sent these provisions to him and Arun Pillai.