The Delhi High Court has remanded Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha to judicial custody until April 09 in connection to the alleged Delhi liqour policy scam. Kavitha, who is also the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday, March 15, and remanded to their custody until March 23.
On March 22, the Supreme Court dismissed Kavitha’s bail application and asked her to approach a lower court. The apex court also clarified that while her petition challenging the arrest could be heard, they could not grant her bail.
Before her arrest, Kavitha approached the Supreme Court challenging the ED's summons to her. After she was taken into custody, she withdrew this petition and filed a new one challenging her arrest. In her petition, she claimed that the arrest violates Article 141 (Law declared by Supreme Court to be binding on all courts) of the Constitution. Kavitha’s petition also challenged Section 19 (1) (Power to arrest) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED’s case is that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received Rs 100 crore as a kickback by cartelising the liquor trade with a new licence regime and used this money for its campaign in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections. The ED has alleged that Kavitha is among several individuals from the Telugu states who paid the AAP through the party’s former communications in-charge Vijay Nair in exchange for “undue favours”. On March 21, AAP leader and New Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was also arrested by the ED in connection with this after being served multiple summons.
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