Excise scam: Court reserves order on CBI's plea seeking custody of Kavitha

New Delhi: A court here on Friday reserved for later in the day its order on the CBI's plea seeking five-day custody of BRS leader K Kavitha, arrested in connection with a corruption case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao was held in Tihar Jail, where she has been lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja reserved the order after hearing arguments by the CBI as well as the counsel appearing for Kavitha on the application.

The CBI told the court that Kavitha was not cooperating in the investigation and was evasive in her replies.

Advocate Nitesh Rana, counsel for the accused, opposed the CBI's plea, terming the arrest as illegal.He further accused the probe agency of violating Kavitha's fundamental rights.

CBI officials had recently questioned Kavitha inside prison after obtaining permission from a special court. The BRS leader was questioned about the WhatsApp chats recovered from co-accused Buchi Babu's phone and documents related to a land deal, after which an amount of Rs 100 crore was allegedly paid to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in kickbacks to swing the excise policy for the national capital in favour of a liquor lobby.

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

Inputs from PTI