The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter K Kavitha for questioning in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy money laundering case on Thursday. The 44-year-old Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC has been asked to depose before the federal agency in Delhi.
This comes in the wake of the arrest of Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Pillai, who the ED alleges was the benami of Kavitha.
The ED had earlier said that Pillai "represented the south group", an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others. The south group represented Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole Lok Sabha seat), Kavitha and others.
According to ED chargesheet, Kavitha allegedly had indirect stake in Indo Spirits, a Delhi-based liquor wholesaler, whose owner Sameer Mahandru is an accused in the case. The South Group allegedly had about 65 percent stake in Indo Spirits, through proxies.
The MLC had earlier said she would be in Delhi for holding a one-day hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar on Friday, seeking the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the upcoming session of Parliament.
Kavitha was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in December for seven hours in the same case. The agency had then asked Kavitha to produce documents related to the Delhi liquor policy.
In February, the CBI had arrested a chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla in connection with the excise policy case. According to the agency, he was non-cooperative, and his responses were found to be evasive.
Kavitha had reacted to the accusations as "completely bogus and false" and that it was a political vendetta of BJP as the BRS was exposing BJP's anti-farmer and pro-capitalist policies.
As per the investigation agencies, 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. The policy was later scrapped and the Delhi Lt Governor had recommended a CBI probe following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
