Kavitha has insisted that she did nothing wrong. (DOCUMENT)
New Delhi:
BRS leader K Kavitha was questioned for more than 10 hours by the Director of Enforcement on Monday in an excise-related money laundering case in Delhi and was called back on the same day, officials said. March 21, officials said.
Kavitha entered the ED headquarters in central Delhi around 10:30 a.m. for a second round of questioning on the case, and recording of testimony began around 11 a.m. Bharat leader Rashtra Samithi (BRS) left the agency’s office around 9:15 p.m. with a symbol of victory as her SUV waded past journalists and police officers on duty.
She was called back on Tuesday, official sources said.
The 44-year-old MLC daughter of Telangana Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was first questioned in the case on 11 March for about nine hours then she was summoned again on 16 March. Kavitha skipped the signing part. filed last week citing her pending plea before the Supreme Court to mitigate the action of the Executive Director (ED) in this case.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation denied her request and ordered her to be deposed on March 20. The court decided to hear her petition on March 24.
On March 11, Kavitha is said to have been confronted with claims by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, a defendant arrested in the case who is believed to have a close relationship with her, in addition to the relationships of several other people involved in the case. The BRS leadership statement is recorded under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Kavitha is expected to face Pillai and her former auditor Butchibabu Gorantla’s statements in person during Monday’s session.
The BRS politician has insisted she did nothing wrong and alleged that the BJP-led Center is “using” the ED because the saffron party could not win the “back door entrance” to Telangana.
Pillai, ED said, “representing South Group”, a liquor conglomerate allegedly linked to Kavitha and others, returned about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to gain market share. larger share of the market. national capital under excise policy Delhi has now been phased out for 2020-21. The “Southern Group”, according to the ED, consists of Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (Member of the YSR Parliament from the seat of Ongole Lok Sabha in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha and others others.
The ED also alleges in Pillai’s custody papers that he “represented Kavitha’s benami investments” in the case. Kavitha was previously questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case at her residence in Hyderabad.
The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy premier and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
It also recorded a statement by Butchibabu, an accountant believed to be connected with Kavitha, in which he said that “there was a political understanding between K Kavitha and the minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy minister (Arvind Kejriwal) Sisodia) In the process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19-20, 2021.”
Nair was arrested by both the ED and the CBI in the case. Butchibabu was arrested by the CBI and was recently questioned again by the ED.
According to Butchibabu’s statement, Nair is “trying to impress Kavitha with what he can do in (excise) policy”.
“Vijay Nair acted on behalf of Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Minister Manish Sisodia,” the statement was recorded by the ED.
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to issue licenses to alcohol dealers has enabled cartelization and favoritism of a number of dealers allegedly bribed to obtain it, an allegation strongly denied by the AAP.
The policy was later dropped and the deputy governor of Delhi proposed a CBI investigation, after which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
