CBI informs court it has quizzed Kavitha in excise case

New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI) The CBI informed a Delhi court on Wednesday it has questioned BRS leader K Kavitha in Tihar central jail in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam. She is under judicial custody in Tihar in a money laundering case linked to the alleged scam. The court had on April 5 allowed the CBI to quiz Kavitha in jail, an order which she has challenged. The CBI informed the special judge for ED and CBI cases, Kaveri Baweja, that it interrogated Kavitha on April 6 following the court’s order. The CBI made the submission in response to an application filed by advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for Kavitha, against the CBI’s plea seeking to interrogate her in judicial custody.

The CBI told the court that since it has already quizzed Kavitha, it would not file a reply to her application. Rana, however, told the court that he would like to make arguments on Kavitha’s application against the CBI’s plea. The court posted the matter for further proceedings on April 26. Advocate Rana had told the court that the central agency thwarted the due process of law by filing an application seeking permission to question her “behind her back”. Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on March 15.

Kavitha, an MLC and 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 AAP in Delhi kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital.

The ED had arrested Kavitha, 46, from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15.