News Analysis India

Tag: Chandrashekar Rao

  • Kavitha arrest: Excise policy case: Delhi court sends BRS MLC K Kavitha to ED custody till March 23

    Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Saturday granted custody remand of BRS MLC K Kavitha to the Enforcement Directorate till March 23. ED sought ten days remand of K Kavitha in connection with Delhi Excise policy case.

    ED had brought MLC K Kavitha before Special Judge M K Nagpal after arresting her from Hyderabad.

    Terming her arrest illegal, the MLC said, “We will fight it out in court.”Her lawyer characterized her arrest as a blatant abuse of power, accusing the ED of violating a Supreme Court order.

    “This arrest is a blatant abuse of power. They have clearly violated the Supreme Court orders which have protected us,” said Vikram Chaudhari, a lawyer for BRS MLC K. Kavitha, before the Delhi court.

    The Central agency questioned Kavitha thrice last year and again summoned her this year but she did not depose, citing a Supreme Court direction that allowed her protection from any coercive action.Allegedly, one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least Rs 100 crore on behalf of the AAP leaders from the “south group”, allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.Kavitha has asserted that she has done nothing wrong and alleged that the Centre was “using” the ED as the BJP could not gain a “backdoor entry” into Telangana.

    The “South Group”, according to the ED, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, Kavitha and others.

    In the excise policy case, The agency alleged the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

    The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)

  • BRS leader K Kavitha taken into custody, say reports

    Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) MLC K Kavitha was taken into custody on Friday evening. The development came hours after Income Tax Department (I-T) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials conducted searches at her Hyderabad residence, according to media reports. Earlier on Friday, at least 10 officers from both agencies from New Delhi had conducted searches in the presence of Kavitha and her husband D Anil Kumar.

    It was not clear if the action is linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy linked case of the central agency in which the ED has questioned the BRS MLC and daughter of former Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao, PTI reported citing official sources.

    The ED had claimed Kavitha was linked to a “South Group” lobby of liquor traders who were trying to play a larger role under the now scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.Reacting to the searches, BRS spokesperson Sravan Dasoju alleged that the raids were politically motivated and both BJP and Congress are hand-in-glove to harass leaders of the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party.

    “Wherever ( Prime Minister Narendra) Modi goes ED and IT ( Income Tax) either precedes or succeeds. That is what is happening in Telangana. They want to create a panic situation in the BRS. The ED and IT which are working at the behest of BJP are not bothered about the Congress leaders of Telangana who have illegally obtained so much wealth,” the BRS leader told PTI.

    Sravan sought to know why the BJP is “tightlipped” on the cases against Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.“We believe in Satyameva Jayate. Let the truth prevail. We are not saying that IT and ED should not do their jobs, but the selectiveness is vindictiveness. Just before the elections, they are trying to do this mudslinging to dent the image of the BRS,” he added.The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least Rs 100 crore from the “South Group” (allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy) on behalf of leaders of the AAP.

    (With inputs from PTI)