New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged on Monday that BRS leader K Kavitha, along with others, conspired with top AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, to receive favors in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
The federal agency claimed that Kavitha paid Rs 100 crore to the ruling party in Delhi in exchange for these favors, reported news agency PTI.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested by the ED last week and is currently in custody until March 23.
ED claimed in a statement, that Kavitha along with others "conspired with the top leaders of AAP including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for getting favours in the Delhi excise policy-formulation and implementation." "In exchange of these favours, she was involved in paying Rs 100 crore to the leaders of AAP," the agency said, as per the PTI report.
The ED stated that this conspiracy led to a continuous flow of illegal funds to the AAP through corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy 2021-22. Kavitha and her associates allegedly aimed to recover the proceeds of the crime paid to AAP and generate further profits from the conspiracy.
The agency described Kavitha as one of the key conspirators and beneficiaries of the Delhi excise policy scam. The agency, while seeking the remand of Kavitha last week, told the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that she was "one of the kingpins, a key conspirator and beneficiary of the Delhi excise policy scam," the report added.
Kavitha, however, denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the Centre was using the ED as a political tool. The AAP accused the BJP of using the ED and CBI as "goons" to target political opponents.
Since the case was registered in 2022, the ED has conducted searches at 245 locations nationwide, arresting 15 individuals, including former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, and some liquor businessmen. The agency has filed six charge sheets in the case and attached assets worth over Rs 128 crore, reported PTI.
Both the ED and the CBI alleged irregularities in the Delhi government's excise policy, which favored certain dealers through cartelization and bribery. However, the AAP strongly refuted these charges.
The policy was subsequently scrapped, and a CBI probe was recommended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
