New Delhi:
Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha – arrested in March in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam – has been sent to the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation for three days. She was previously in judicial custody – in Delhi’s Tihar Jail – till April 23 in a related money laundering case.
Ms Kavitha was arrested – in dramatic circumstances, which involved a spat between her brother KT Rama Rao and an ED team – from her Hyderabad home last month and sent to the agency’s custody.
She was arrested by the CBI – while in Tihar on judicial custody – on Thursday evening.
The CBI had sought custody of Ms Kavitha for five days, arguing that witness statements, WhatsApp chats, and financial documents implicated her as a “major conspirator” in a scheme to pay Rs 100 crore in bribes to Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party for liquor licences under the now-scrapped policy.
On Saturday CBI officials had questioned Ms Kavitha while she was inside Tihar Jail.
The central agency told Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court that a liquor businessman from South India met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to acquire such licences, and was told to coordinate payments via Ms Kavitha and others, including the AAP’s former communications chief, Vijay Nair.
The CBI – and the Enforcement Directorate, which has arrested Mr Kejriwal and his former deputy, Manish Sisodia – relied on statements from accused-turn-witnesses like Dinesh Arora to make its case. Mr Arora has claimed payments of Rs 90 to Rs 100 crore were made to Mr Nair.
Ms Kavitha, who is ex-Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter, is accused of being part of the ‘south group’ that was involved in payment of crores as bribes to the AAP.
These were allegedly generated thanks to high profit margins for liquor sales as allowed by the AAP – 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesale outlets. Half of the latter – eventually worth Rs 600 crore – was paid as kickbacks and the AAP allegedly used this money to fund poll campaigns.
The ED has labelled the Delhi Chief Minister – who is in Tihar’s Jail No 2 and has moved the Supreme Court after the High Court slapped down a plea to declare his arrest void – as a “key conspirator”.
