Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court sent BRS MLC K Kavitha to CBI remand till April 15 in the Delhi excise policy case. She was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation yesterday. The CBI while seeking custodial interrogation of Kavitha said that she did not give satisfactory answer regarding the payment of kickbacks to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order after hearing arguments of the CBI as well as Kavitha’s counsel. Kavitha, 46, was arrested by the CBI in Tihar jail, where she was lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged scam, on Thursday.
CBI remand application stated that it wants to establish the money trail of ill-gotten money generated and to establish the role of other accused/suspect persons including public servants as well as to unearth the facts which are in her exclusive knowledge.
One of the companies under Aurobindo Group in July 2021 made a total payment of Rs 14 crore through bank account transaction, in which Rs 7 crore was paid on the first week of July 2021 and the rest Rs 7 crore was paid in mid November 2021, said CBI to Court while seeking custodial remand of Kavitha.
It has been further revealed that in November-December 2021, K Kavitha asked Sarath Chandra Reddy to pay Rs 25 crores at the rate of Rs 5 crore per zone as decided earlier for the five retail zones allotted to him, as she had claimed that she herself had paid Rs 100 crores as upfront money on our behalf to AAP through the accused Vijay Nair for getting favourable provisions in Excise Policy and also pursued the same through her associates Arun R Pillai and Abhishek Boinpally.
However, when Sarath Chandra Reddy showed his reluctance to pay the demanded money, Kavitha threatened Sarath Chandra Reddy to harm his business in Telengana and in Delhi under the Excise Policy, stated the remand application.
According to the CBI, Sarath Chandra Reddy has also stated that when the Delhi Excise Policy was withdrawn on August 31, 2022, the accused Arun R Pillai, the associate of Kavitha told him not to pay the outstanding of M/s Indospirits for his retail zones, amounting to approximately Rs 60 crores.
The same were to be paid to Kavitha for recoupment of upfront Rs 100 crores paid by her and that he (Arun R Pillai) would advise how to proceed with that money, however, subsequently, the investigation in Delhi Excise Policy matter started and thereafter, Arun R Pillai did not contact him in this regard.