No Relief To BRS Leader K Kavitha: Apex Court Denies Bail To Her In Delhi Excise Policy Case, Asks To Approach Trial Court
The Supreme Court has refused to grant bail to K. Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
The Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice MM Sundresh, and Justice Bela M. Trivedi directed her to approach the Trial Court for Bail and said that if an Application of Bail id filed it shall be decided expeditiously.
The Court ordered, "Issue notice and tag with the Writ Petition. Notice will be served by all modes, including Dasti. Counter- Affidavit will be filed within 6 weeks, rejoinder if any, in 6 weeks after service of the Counter Affidavit."
"It will be open to the Petitioner to move the Trial Court or invoke any remedy for grant of bail. All pleas and contentions available to the Petitioner are left open. We clairify that we have not made any comments on merits," the Court said. The Court also said in the order that the application for bail once filed will be decided expeditiously.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary appeared for Kavitha.
After the Order was passed, Sibal said, "May I say something, I hope your Lordships don't mind."
To this Justice Khanna said, "Please say if you have something. Why should we mind?"
Sibal said, "The history of this Court will not be written in golden words."
Justice Khanna said, "Let's see."
Recently, Kavitha had withdrawn her plea seeking protection from arrest and challenging the summons by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
The ED had said Pillai "represented the south group," an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020–21.
The "south group," according to the ED, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha and others.
The ED had also alleged in Pillai's remand papers that he "represented the benami investments" of Kavitha, who has also been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case. The Investigating Agency has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia. It has recorded the statement of Butchi Babu, a chartered accountant allegedly linked to Kavitha, where he said "there was political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal) and the deputy chief minister (Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on March 19–20, 2021."
Cause Title: Kalvakuntla Kavitha v. Directorate of Enforcement [W.P. (Crl.) No. 153/2024]
