Delhi Excise Policy Case: ED Questions BRS Leader Kavitha For 10 Hrs On Day 2

Kavitha arrived to the ED offices in central Delhi at 10:30 a.m., and her questioning and statement recording began around 11 a.m. and lasted until 8:45 p.m.

BRS Leader K Kavitha.

Source : ANI

The Enforcement Directorate questioned BRS leader K Kavitha for around 10 hours on Monday after she came before the agency for a second round of interrogation in a Delhi excise policy-related money laundering case, authorities said, news agency PTI reported.

Kavitha arrived to the ED offices in central Delhi at 10:30 a.m., and her questioning and statement recording began around 11 a.m. and lasted until 8:45 p.m.

#WATCH | Delhi: BRS MLC K Kavitha leaves from ED office.

She arrived at the ED office earlier today after the agency summoned her in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. pic.twitter.com/beIs8v2yW1

— ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2023

The 44-year-old MLC daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was first questioned in the matter on March 11 for almost nine hours before being summoned again on March 16. Kavitha missed the deposition last week, citing her ongoing petition before the Supreme Court for relief from the ED proceedings in the case.

The federal investigation agency dismissed her accusations and summoned her to testify on March 20. Her petition will be heard by the Supreme Court on March 24.

Apart from those of a few others engaged in the case, Kavitha is said to have been challenged with statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested culprit in the case who reportedly has close relations with her, on March 11. The testimony of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

At Monday's session, Kavitha is expected to have been physically accosted by Pillai and her former auditor Butchibabu Gorantla.

The BRS leader has claimed that she did nothing illegal and that the BJP-led Centre was "using" the ED since the saffron party was unable to obtain a "backdoor entry" into Telangana.

The ED claimed Pillai "represented the South Group," an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others that paid kickbacks totaling around Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in order to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy for 2020-21. According to the ED, the "South Group" consists of Sarath Reddy (Aurobindo Pharma proprietor), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha, and others.

In Pillai's detention documents, the ED further claimed that he "represented Kavitha's benami investments" in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) previously questioned Kavitha at her Hyderabad apartment in connection with the case.

So far, the ED has detained 12 persons in connection with the investigation, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.

It has also recorded the statement of Butchibabu, an accountant who is said to be connected to Kavitha, in which he said that "there was political understanding between K Kavitha and chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy chief minister (Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021".

Both the ED and the CBI detained Nair in the case. Butchibabu was detained by the CBI and was recently questioned again by the ED.

Nair was "trying to impress Kavitha with what he could do in the (excise) policy," according to Butchibabu's account.

"Vijay Nair was acting on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia," the statement recorded by the ED was quoted by PTI in its report. 

The Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which grants licences to liquor merchants, is said to have facilitated cartelisation and favoured particular dealers who reportedly paid bribes for it, a claim strenuously denied by the AAP.

The policy was later repealed, and the lieutenant governor of Delhi urged a CBI investigation, which prompted the ED to file a case under the PMLA.

(With Inputs From Agencies)