BRS leader K Kavitha, currently lodged in Tihar Jail, has been admitted to Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital following a deterioration in her health, news agency ANI informed citing Tihar Jail officials.
A Delhi court on 5th July extended Kavitha's judicial custody until 18th July in connection with the corruption case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. This comes after the Delhi High Court recently rejected her bail petitions. Kavitha, daughter of BRS chief and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In its judgment on 1st July, a bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma, after reviewing the material collected by the investigating agency, indicated that Kavitha was prima facie one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy related to the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. According to IANS, the court stated, “She cannot be equated to a vulnerable woman who may have been misused to commit an offence,” thereby denying her the benefit of proviso to Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Kavitha had approached the high court after a trial court on 6th May turned down her regular bail pleas. She was initially arrested by the ED and later by the CBI on 11th April while in Tihar Jail.
In June, BRS leaders and former Ministers P. Sabitha Indra Reddy and Satyavathi Rathod visited Kavitha in Tihar Jail. The women leaders of the party met with her, expressing solidarity as she remains in judicial custody over the Delhi excise policy case.
K Kavitha's Arrest In Delhi Excise Policy Case
Kavitha was initially arrested by the ED on 15th March for her alleged role in money laundering connected to the case. Allegations suggest she was part of the ‘South Gang’ that allegedly paid Rs 100 crore to the AAP government in Delhi to alter the liquor policy to suit their business interests, IANS reported.
The CBI, which is also probing the liquor policy case, arrested Kavitha on 11th April while she was under judicial custody. The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi has twice rejected her bail petition. BRS leaders R.S. Praveen Kumar and Balka Suman met Kavitha in Tihar Jail last month. After the meeting, Praveen Kumar, a former IPS officer, remarked, “Kavitha is very confident that she will be exonerated of all charges and come out clean.”