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New Delhi: Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and BRS MLC, K Kavitha walked out of the Enforcement Directorate office in Delhi on Saturday night, scotching speculation about her imminent arrest, after a marathon nine-hour interrogation by investigators on her role in the Delhi liquor policy scam. Kavita was interrogated for 9 hours. She has been summoned again for questioning on March 16. Officials have informed about this.
He said that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s 44-year-old daughter Kavita left the agency’s headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road around 8 pm. She had reached the ED office from her father’s government residence at Tughlaq Road, about one and a half kilometers away, at around 11 am.Investigating officials said that the BRS leader has been summoned for questioning again on March 16.
Earlier, a large number of personnel of Delhi Police and Central Paramilitary Forces were deployed in the ED office. Supporters of the BRS leader also staged a demonstration on APJ Abdul Kalam Road. The ED had asked Kavita to appear on March 9 but she was given a new date due to her earlier schedule to join a fast here on Friday to demand the passage of the long-delayed Women’s Reservation Bill in the budget session of Parliament.
Kavita has been summoned by the agency to confront Hyderabad businessman Arun Ramachandran Pillai. Pillai was arrested by the ED this week. The agency will register Kavita’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Kavita had recently said at a press conference here that she had done nothing wrong and had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government was using the ED because the BJP could not get back-door entry into Telangana.
Pillai is in ED custody till March 12 and will be produced in court again on March 13. Pillai is a partner in a company named ‘Robin Distilleries LLP’. The ED claimed that the company was owned by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and Legislative Councilor K. The alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavita and others represents the ‘South Group’. It is alleged that the ‘South Group’ paid a bribe of around Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to get a higher market share in the national capital under the now repealed Delhi Excise Policy 2020-21.
Delhi Government’s Excise Policy 2021-22 to license liquor traders gave an opportunity to entrepreneurs to collude and give undue advantage to some dealers who allegedly paid bribes for the same. The ED has so far arrested 12 people, including former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia, in this case. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has strongly denied the allegation.
