Excise policy case: K Kavitha’s custody extended till May 20

New Delhi, May 14

A local court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of BRS leader K Kavitha till May 20. She was arrested in connection with a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja extended the custody after Kavitha was produced in the court at the expiry of her previous judicial custody. The judge reserved the order on whether to take cognisance of a fresh chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the case till May 20.

During the hearing, the ED informed the court that there was sufficient evidence in the prosecution complaint against Kavitha to put her on trial.

The ED filed a 224-page prosecution complaint along with annexures under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday.

Apart from Kavitha, three employees of Chariot Productions Media Pvt Ltd, Chanpreet Singh, Demoded Sharma and Prince Kumar, who handled the AAP’s Assembly election campaign in Goa, and Arvind Singh, a former employee of a news channel, have been named as accused in the latest chargesheet.

The agency has alleged that these individuals were involved in the movement and handling of funds for the AAP’s Goa poll campaign in 2022.

The Telangana MLC, who is also the daughter of former CM K Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested from her residence in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad on March 15.

This is the seventh chargesheet filed by the ED in the case, in which 18 people have been arrested so far, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on Friday.

ED allegations

• The ED has alleged that Kavitha was a key member of the “South Group”, accused of paying AAP alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a significant share in liquor licences in Delhi as part of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.
• The ED had registered its money laundering case on August 22, 2022, taking cognisance of the CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, after the L-G recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities.