Excise policy scam: Delhi court denies regular bail to BRS leader K. Kavitha

A Delhi court on Monday, 6 May, denied regular bail to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha in connection with the money laundering cases being probed by CBI and ED related to the alleged excise policy scam.

Currently, Kavitha, the daughter of BRS supremo and former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is in judicial custody till 7 May.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Court pronounced the order on her pleas.

Kavitha was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and later by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 11 April while she was in Tihar Jail.

Judge Baweja had then sent her to CBI's custody noting that a "detailed and sustained interrogation" of the accused is necessary.

Now, she is in judicial custody in the case being probed by both the agencies. In her application, Kavitha has alleged that her arrest was politically motivated, aimed at depriving her and her party of a level playing field in the upcoming general elections.

She has 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.

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.