The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha to appear before it on February 26 for questioning in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, The Hindu reported on Wednesday.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was first questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for over seven hours in December 2022.
On March 11 last year, she was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in the same case for over nine hours. On March 15, she had moved the Supreme Court against the Enforcement Directorate summons. In a hearing in September, the court had asked the agency to not summon Kavitha till it takes up the matter next.
In January, the Enforcement Directorate summoned the Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC again.
She had skipped the summons stating that the Supreme Court was hearing a case that women should be questioned at their residence, The New Indian Express reported. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader skipped the agency’s summons thrice last year.
What is the case about?
The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation alleging irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
The agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party modified the policy to ensure a 12% profit margin for wholesalers and a nearly 185% profit margin for retailers.
The Enforcement Directorate has claimed that Kavitha is part of a so-called “South Group” that paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party through arrested businessman Vijay Nair.
According to the agency, apart from Kavitha, others in the alleged “South Group” include Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, the YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha MP from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh, his son Raghav Magunta and P Sarath Chandra Reddy, the son of PV Ramprasad Reddy, who is the founder of the Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma.
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the “South Group secured uninhibited access, attained stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones [over and above what was allowed in the policy]”.
Kavitha has, in the past, said she has done nothing wrong and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government of harassing its political adversaries.
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