The Supreme Court on Friday denied bail to BRS leader K Kavitha, who was arrested by the ED for her involvement in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
Kavitha, a member of the Telangana Legislative Council and the daughter of former state chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was remanded in custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday until March 23.
The 46-year-old was apprehended by the federal anti-money laundering agency at her Banjara Hills home in Hyderabad. In a second motion, Kavitha said, "Quash and set aside the entire action taken by the respondent (ED) leading to the arrest of the petitioner as the same is wholly non-est; illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, contrary to the undertaking tendered before this court and also being violative of the postulates of Section 19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 especially qua a woman."
It is to be noted that the apex court has issued notice to the ED on a writ petition filed by K Kavitha, challenging her arrest by the ED in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy case. For bail, the Supreme Court instructed her to approach the trial court.
A special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh, and Bela Trivedi refused to hear her petition, stating that "she must follow a uniform policy and seek relief from the trial court". The court also stated that people cannot approach the top court directly for bail simply because they are politicians or can afford to do so.
Her writ petition was heard this morning in the Supreme Court, alongside an urgent hearing over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest last evening.
Kejriwal, the sitting Delhi CM, is the third leader of the AAP to be arrested. All three leaders have been arrested in the same case, His arrest follows the apprehension former deputy Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.
The CM spent the night in a jail at the ED's office. He is set to be produced before an ED court on Friday. The police have deplyed heavy securiry abd barricades near the AAP office while traffic restrictions have been enforced in the city in view of protests.