Excise scam: HC to pass order on Monday on bail pleas of K Kavitha

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court is likely to pronounce on Monday its order on bail pleas of BRS leader K Kavitha in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who had reserved the order on the two bail pleas of Kavitha on May 28, is scheduled to pass the verdict at 2:30 PM on July 1.

Kavitha has challenged the trial court's May 6 order by which her bail applications in the CBI's corruption case as well as the ED's money laundering case were dismissed.

Kavitha's lawyer had submitted that out of the 50 accused in the excise matter, she is the lone woman, and urged the court to consider granting her bail as law keeps women on a different pedestal.

The CBI and ED had opposed the bail pleas of Kavitha, saying she was highly influential and powerful enough to influence witnesses.

Countering the submission made on behalf of Kavitha that she, being a woman, be released on bail, the probe agencies had contended that it was the woman who was playing the main role in the conspiracy here and she was an active politician and a member of legislative council and cannot seek parity with vulnerable woman.

The CBI's counsel had argued that Kavitha was not just a woman but a very influential woman and was powerful enough to influence witnesses as one of the witnesses has even stated that he was threatened by her.

The ED's counsel had also contended that Kavitha was a co-conspirator and a beneficiary of the excise scam and the proceeds of crime were directly going to her.

It had claimed that the politician, who was accused of a white collar crime, was involved in destruction of evidence and coercing people to retract from their statements.

The ED, in its reply to the bail plea, had opposed the bail plea saying that Kavitha's release would adversely affect further investigation to unearth the "deep-rooted, multi-layered conspiracy".

It had contended that the Telangana lawmaker is a "highly influential" individual and stands accused of having committed a grave economic offence.

She has the potential to tamper with evidence and influence witnesses, it had said.

"K Kavitha has conspired with other people and actively involved in payment of kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore and then in establishing the money laundering ecosystem, that is, M/s Indo Spirits through her proxy which generated proceeds of crime of Rs 192.8 crore. By such acts, K Kavitha is involved in various processes and activities relating to proceeds of crime (POC) to the tune of Rs 292.8 crore," the probe agency said in its counter affidavit.

The ED had said there is ample evidence to link her to the offence of money laundering.

Kavitha is in judicial custody in the two cases lodged by the ED and the CBI in the alleged scam.

The "scam" pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.

The ED arrested Kavitha (46) from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The CBI arrested her from Tihar jail.

In her bail plea in the ED case, the BRS leader, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, has said she has "nothing to do" with the excise policy and there is a criminal conspiracy against her "orchestrated by the ruling party at the Centre with the active connivance of the ED".

Inputs from PTI