BRS leader K Kavitha’s interim bail plea dismissed by Delhi court in excise policy case

The Delhi Rouse Avenue Court dismissed the interim bail application moved by BRS leader K Kavitha in money laundering case related to Delhi excise policy.

The Delhi Rouse Avenue Court on Monday dismissed the interim bail application moved by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in the money laundering case related to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

K Kavitha’s regular bail application is pending before the court and is listed for hearing the arguments on April 20.

K Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.

Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, has been accused of being a key member of the “South Group”, which allegedly paid the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi kickbacks of ₹100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital. She was sent to 14-day judicial custody last Tuesday.

The latest setback for K Kavitha comes two days after the BRS leader moved a Delhi court urging it to recall its order allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI to interrogate her in Tihar jail. The CBI is probing the corruption angle in the excise policy case.

Kavitha’s advocate Nitesh Rana told the court that the CBI thwarted the due process of law by filing a plea seeking permission to question her “behind her back”.

“I have grave apprehension that the CBI may not have divulged true facts in order to obtain a favourable order from the court,” Rana said.

The court heard the submission and posted the matter for hearing on April 10 after the CBI sought time to reply to Kavitha’s plea.

Special Judge for ED and CBI cases Kaveri Baweja, however, did not give any interim relief to K Kavitha.

Rana later told news agency PTI that even though the court did not recall the order, according to judicial discipline, the probe agency must refrain from executing it as K Kavitha’s plea was pending before the judge.