Excise scam: Court sends BRS leader K Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) A Delhi court on Monday sent BRS leader K Kavitha, arrested in connection with a corruption case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, to judicial custody till April 23.

The daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was arrested from the Tihar Jail, where she was lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The CBI produced the accused before the court on expiry of her three-day police custody granted earlier by the judge and sought her JC.

The CBI told the court that she was not required for further custodial interrogation. Advocate Nitesh Rana, representing Kavitha along with Deepak Nagar, opposed the police plea, saying the grounds were not sufficient to keep her in custody since she is no longer required for custodial interrogation.

CBI officials had recently questioned Kavitha inside prison after obtaining permission from a special court. The BRS leader was questioned about the WhatsApp chats recovered from co-accused Buchi Babu’s phone and documents related to a land deal, after which an amount of Rs 100 crore was allegedly paid to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in kickbacks to swing the excise policy for the national capital in favour of a liquor lobby.

The ED arrested Kavitha (46) from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15, and she was in judicial custody in the case.