BRS leader Kavitha to be questioned today in Delhi liquor policy case, KCR says won’t back down before BJP
By India Today News Desk: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi liquor policy case today, March 11. Ahead of her questioning, Delhi police has put up barricades outside the residence of KCR.
BRS workers and supporters also gathered outside Telangana CM’s residence in Delhi to demonstrate a show of strength.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already questioned K Kavitha in December last year for her suspected role in the Delhi excise policy case. Senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been arrested in the same case.
Here are the top developments in the story:
- K Kavitha was summoned by the ED for questioning on March 9 but she asked the probe agency to postpone her questioning to March 11, citing her hunger strike scheduled in the national capital on Friday. Kavitha’s protest sought the early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.
- The BRS leader will be questioned in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy that was brought in by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Reacting to the ED summons, BRS chief KCR said, “Let BJP do what they want, we won’t back down.” Addressing a closed door meeting at Telangana Bhavan, KCR said BJP has been trying to create trouble in Telangana and also for opposition party leaders through raids, searches, ED/IT summons. He also asked his party cadres and leaders to prepare for the upcoming elections in the state.
The ED had named K Kavitha in the chargesheet, accusing her of holding a 65 per cent stake in Indospirits, a liquor company.
Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, who has already been arrested by the ED, had said there was a deal between K Kavitha and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wherein exchange for kickbacks was paid to the tune of Rs 100 crore. K Kavitha got access to the Delhi liquor business, specifically stakes in Indospirits.
The agency has summoned Kavitha so that she can be confronted with Arun Pillai, an alleged frontman of the South Group.
Sources in the ED said they have enough evidence against K Kavitha to establish that she was involved in the scam. At least three accused/suspects have taken K Kavitha’s name in their statements alleging her involvement.
The ED in its remand report had mentioned that businessman and AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, who has already been arrested in the case, received kickbacks of Rs 100 crore on behalf of AAP leaders from a group, called ‘South Group’. K Kavitha has been named as one of the members of ‘South Group’, the report said.
Citing WhatsApp chats between Vijay Nair and K Kavitha, the ED said Nair played a key role in ensuring that funds are given to Hyderabad to AAP. Nair ensured that the funds were transferred smoothly, the ED said.
Telangana minister and Kavitha’s brother KT Rama Rao reached Delhi on Friday by a special flight ahead of her questioning. “If ED may arrest Kavitha tomorrow, let them. What else can they do? We will stand strong, stay on ground and work towards our goal, which is to defeat BJP,” KTR said.
K Kavitha has called the ED summons “nothing but a diversionary tactic by the BJP”. “I have done nothing wrong. I have no connection with the (Delhi liquor policy) case or any allegations they are putting on me. BJP’s real target is my father,” she told India Today.
Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla, former auditor of K Kavitha, was also arrested by the CBI in the Delhi liqourgate scandal. The CBI said Butchibabu was arrested for his alleged role in formulating and implementing the excise policy and causing wrongful gain to Hyderabad-based wholesale and retail licensees and their beneficial owners. He was later granted bail.
— ENDS —
