Excise policy case: ED issues fresh summons to Kavitha for March 20

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons for March 20 to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case, after she skipped Thursday’s notice citing her pending plea before the Supreme Court.

The Telangana MLC has pleaded in the apex court for protection against arrest and quashing of summons in the money-laundering case. The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear her plea on March 24.

Sources in the agency said the six-page representation of the Telangana MLC has been rejected in view of the ongoing investigation which is at an important phase. She has been asked to appear on March 20, officials said.

Also read: Kavitha grilled for 9 hours in excise policy case, summoned again on Mar 16

Kavitha (44), daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, sent an authorised representative — a BRS party office bearer — who handed over a six-page representation against her deposition, along with her bank statement and personal and business details, to the investigating officer.

Kavitha’s letter to ED

The politician was first questioned in the case on March 11, following which she was asked to depose again on March 16. In the letter sent to the ED, Kavitha said since the summons explicitly do not require her to appear in person, she was sending her “authorised representative”.

“I humbly beseech your good self that the proceedings before the Supreme Court being sacred and sacrosanct, the outcome thereof must be awaited before any further proceedings take place with respect to the subject summons,” she wrote.

Official sources had said on March 11 that during the nine hours she spent at the ED office, she was confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai. Pillai, who has already been arrested in the case, allegedly shares close ties with her besides a few others involved in the case. Her statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Also read: K Kavitha extends olive branch to Congress; will this change shape of Opposition?

Case history

The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia. The agency on Wednesday (March 15) recorded the fresh statement of Kavitha’s former auditor Butchibabu Gorantla in the case.

The Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allegedly allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly denied by the AAP. The Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

(With Agency inputs)