New Delhi, March 22, 2024 : A Delhi court on Saturday extended the Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody of Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) legislator K Kavitha until March 26 in connection with the agency’s investigation into money laundering charges related to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja issued the order, directing the probe agency to present Kavitha on March 26 at 11:00 am.
On Friday, the Supreme Court denied bail to Kavitha in the case and advised her to approach the trial court, stating that it would not consider a bail plea solely because she is a political figure or could afford to approach the top court directly.
The ED informed the court that Kavitha had allegedly conspired in the payment of kickbacks amounting to Rs. 100 crore and requested a further remand of five days.
Representing the ED, Zoheb Hussain informed the court that Kavitha’s mobile data had been analyzed by experts, and she had been confronted with a forensic science report indicating that data had been deleted during the money laundering investigation. The advocate also mentioned that the ED was conducting searches at her nephew’s residence.
Kavitha, 46, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), was arrested by the ED from her residence in Hyderabad on the evening of March 15, following an extensive search operation and raid conducted by the federal agency and income tax officials.
On March 16, a Delhi court remanded her to ED custody until March 23, stating that her custodial interrogation was necessary to trace a significant portion of the proceeds of crime.
Appearing through advocate Nitesh Rana, Kavitha submitted to the court that the ED was seeking certain documents from her, but she would not be able to produce them until she was granted bail.
Rana informed the court that although Kavitha had filed a bail application, she was not pressing it at this time but was only requesting the court to issue a notice to the ED.
While Kavitha has not been named as an accused in any of the six charge sheets filed by the ED since November 2023, the advocate stated that she was referred to as a key figure in the excise policy-related irregularities in the court documents.
