After five months of imprisonment, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha, who is also the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has been granted bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi liquor scam case. The matter was heard by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan on Tuesday, August 27.
In its order, the bench said that the investigation has been completed and chargesheet filed. “Custody of the appellant is not necessary. She has been behind bars for 5 months. The likelihood of trial being concluded in near future is impossible,” the court said, adding that undertrial custody should not turn into punishment.
Kavitha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 15, 2024 after the Enforcement Directorate carried out searches at her residence in Hyderabad. The Supreme Court had granted Kavitha interim protection from arrest till March 13. In her petition, she had said that the allegations against her were politically motivated and were framed at the behest of the BJP.
Questioning the timing of the arrest, BRS spokesperson Krishank Manne said that the ED issued a notice to Kavitha in September last year just before the state Assembly elections held in December. “Now ED and IT raids are being conducted just hours before the Lok Sabha schedule,” Krishank had said. BRS had also staged protests against the arrest across the state following the arrest.
On August 9, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was granted bail by a SC bench headed by Justice Gavai. It held that Sisodia was deprived of his right to a speedy trial, considering the fact that he suffered incarceration of more than 17 months and the trial in the case has not yet commenced.
The ED had alleged that the people involved in the alleged scam gave kickbacks of crores of rupees to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders to gain control over the liquor business in Delhi. The central agency said that Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai confessed to representing Kavitha’s interests in the liquor policy case. The other members of the group include Hyderabad based businessman Sarath Reddy, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy and his son Raghav Magunta Reddy.
The ED is probing the Delhi liquor policy scam allegedly committed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed for cartelisation and privileged certain dealers over others. The preferred dealers had allegedly paid bribes worth Rs 100 crore for the licences. The liquor policy was scrapped soon after and a CBI probe commenced, following which the ED registered a case against the same accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).