Delhi excise policy case: BRS leader Kavitha questioned by ED for 9 hours

BRS leader K Kavitha deposed before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for nine hours on Saturday in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, officials said.

The 44-year-old daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao left the the federal agency's headquarters on APJ Abdul Kalam Road around 8 pm after nine hours of questioning and recording of her statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

She had arrived at the ED office from her father's official residence on Tughlak Road, located about 1.5 kilometres away, around 11 am.

The officials said the BRS leader has been summoned again on March 16 in connection with the case.

There was a heavy presence of Delhi Police and central paramilitary forces personnel for barricading the ED office even as the supporters of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader staged a protest.

It is alleged that 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, a charge strongly refuted by the ruling AAP.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.