Delhi court seeks CBI's reply on BRS leader K. Kavitha's bail plea, lists for April 22

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday sought, by April 20, the CBI's reply on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K. Kavitha's bail application in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.

The development comes after the court earlier on Monday sent Kavitha, the daughter of BRS supremo and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, to judicial custody till April 23.

Her custody in the Enforcement Directorate's case will also end on the same date.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Court issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and listed the matter for the next hearing on April 22.

Kavitha has also sought interim bail during the pendency of her bail application. In her application, she alleged that her arrest was politically motivated, and aimed at depriving her and her party of a level playing field in the upcoming elections.

She asserted that her arrest by the CBI, just days before the commencement of the nomination exercise in Telangana, was orchestrated by the ruling party at the Centre to impede her election campaigning.

"The arrest of the applicant by the Enforcement Directorate on March 15, just a day before the declaration of the election schedule and by CBI on April 11, i.e., less than 10 days before the commencement of the nomination exercise in the state of Telangana is not a mere coincidence. The arrest of the petitioner is nothing, but a method devised by the ruling party at Centre to deprive level playing field to her and her party in the upcoming elections," she said.

Kavitha has argued that the evidence cited against her was illegally procured by the CBI in collusion with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) long ago, with the sole intention of hindering her election campaign. She has maintained that she has no connection to the Delhi excise policy and that the ruling party is using investigative agencies to tarnish her image and that of her father.

"The political masterminds are well aware that if the Petitioner can be connected to the alleged scam, it will bring her, and by logical implication, her father, the erstwhile Hon’ble Chief Minister of Telangana, into disrepute," she has said.

"The ruling party in the Centre is using investigative agencies to publicly connect the petitioner to the Delhi excise policy so that further coercive actions can be taken against her," her application stated.

Moreover, Kavitha has cited her medical condition, hypertension, as a reason for bail, stressing the need for medical care after her arrest by the ED. She has contended that the CBI is relying solely on the statements of approvers or their associates as part of a larger conspiracy against her.

The CBI on Monday claimed that she did not cooperate with the probe and gave evasive replies contrary to the evidence on record. Noting that her further CBI custody is not required at this stage, it sought that she be sent to 14-day judicial custody, as she "being a prominent politician, is a very influential person and as such, there are credible reasons to believe that she may influence the witnesses and the potential witnesses, who are yet to be examined, tamper with the evidence to be further collected and may hamper the ongoing investigation".

"That further investigation is going on and the same is at the very crucial stage. Some crucial witnesses are yet to be examined and documents/digital evidence are yet to be collected."

The CBI arrested Kavitha from the Tihar Jail on April 11 and presented her before a Delhi court the next day. The judge then sent her to CBI's custody noting that a "detailed and sustained interrogation" of the accused is necessary.