New Delhi: Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister KCR, K Kavitha, will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday in the Delhi liquor policy case. Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has been arrested by the investigation agency in the same case.
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K Kavitha, who was to meet ED on Thursday, skipped her questioning citing her hunger strike in Delhi on Friday seeking the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the current Budget session of Parliament. The agency had agreed.
ED on Friday told the court that there was a conspiracy behind framing the excise policy adding that the conspiracy was coordinated by Vijay Nair, along with others and the Excise policy was brought out for extraordinary profit margin for wholesalers, reported ANI. The federal agency apprised the court about the meeting between Vijay Nair and BRS leader K Kavitha.
Enforcement Directorate also told the Rouse Avenue Court that the margin of 12 per cent of wholesale profit margin to private entities was never discussed in the GoM meeting, reported ANI. The ED further stated that accused Butchibabu Gorantla disclosed that there was a political understanding between then deputy CM Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha who also met Vijay Nair. Notably, Butchibabu is the former auditor of K Kavitha and is presently out on bail in the case.
K Kavitha on Thursday announced that a hunger strike will be carried out in the national capital on March 10 and that 18 political parties have pledged to join the protest to demand the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the current session of Parliament. She was joined by several leaders including AAP's Sanjay Singh and Chitra Sarwara, a Shiv Sena delegation, Akali Dal leader Naresh Gujral, PDP's Anjum Javed Mirza, NC's Dr. Shami Firdous, TMC leader Sushmita Dev and JDU's KC Tyagi are also present at the protest site.
The BRS leader also stated that she will endure the ED because she had done nothing wrong. At a news conference, Kavitha said that if a woman needs to be interviewed by a central agency, she has a "basic right" to be questioned at her house under the law.
“We released a poster on March 2 about the hunger strike in Delhi over the Women’s Reservation Bill. 18 parties confirmed their participation…ED summoned me on March 9. I requested for March 16 but don’t know what haste they’re in, so I agreed for March 11. When an agency wants to interrogate a woman, she has a fundamental right that it be done at her home,” she was quoted as saying by ANI in its report.
“So, I requested ED that they can come to my house on 11th March to investigate but they said that I will have to come to them,” the BRS leader said.
ED on Friday sought 10-day custody of Manish Sisodia in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case. Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Friday witnessed an intense series of arguments between the ED and Sisodia's lawyers over the agency's demand of 10-day custody of the AAP leader in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.
While ED detailed a list of reasons behind its demand, Sisodia's lawyer dismissed ED's claim as one with 'malafied intention' and a case based on 'hearsay'. The ED arrested the former Delhi deputy chief minister after questioning him for two days about alleged money laundering in the new liquor policy, which was scrapped after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into it.
The ED arrest came as another setback for Sisodia, who is seeking bail from the CBI court. Sisodia was arrested by CBI on February 26 and was sent to the agency's remand for five days. Sisodia was then again sent to the CBI's custody after the agency sought more time to confront Sisodia with critical witnesses in the case. He was then arrested by the ED in the money laundering case it registered in connection with the now-withdrawn excise policy.