CBI to question TRS leader Kavitha in Delhi excise policy probe on Dec 11

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[google-translator]

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will question Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) lawmaker Kalvakuntla Kavitha about her purported involvement in alleged irregularities pertaining to Delhi’s 2021-22 excise policy and will record her statement in Hyderabad on December 11, the probe agency stated on Tuesday.

CBI deputy inspector general (Anti-Corruption Bureau) Raghavendra Vatsa, in a letter to Kavitha, said, “Kindly confirm your availability on the said date and time at your residential address at Hyderabad.”

Vatsa’s letter came after Kavitha, who is Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter, on Monday asked the CBI to defer her questioning from December 6 (Tuesday) as she was unavailable on that date, and added that she would be available at her residence in Hyderabad on December 11, 12, 14 and 15 for questioning.

On November 30, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) named Kavitha, the TRS Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) from Nizamabad, in a remand report submitted to a Delhi court, following the arrest of Amit Arora, one of the accused in the excise policy case.

ED claimed Kavitha was a key member of the “South Group”, which allegedly paid at least 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) through another arrested businessman, Vijay Nair.

Thereafter, CBI on December 2 issued a notice to Kavitha, asking her to appear for questioning on Tuesday. Though she initially said she would be available for examination on Tuesday, she later changed her stand, asking the probe agency for a copy of the FIR and the complaint by a home ministry official dated July 22, so that she could get acquainted with the case before being examined by the investigating officers.

On December 4, Vatsa wrote to her, saying a copy of the FIR and the complaint were available on the investigation agency website. In response, Kavitha said her name did not figure in the list of accused persons mentioned in the first information report (FIR), or in the contents of the complaint. She added that she would not be able to meet the investigating officers on Tuesday because of her schedule, but could meet them on December 11, 12, 14 or 15 at her residence in Hyderabad.

“I am a law-abiding citizen and will cooperate with the investigation. I will meet you on any of the above said dates to cooperate with the investigation,” she had said.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales-volume based regime with a license fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.

The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.

In August, CBI in its FIR listed Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as an accused in the case.

Sisodia and the AAP have dismissed the probe as a politically motivated witch-hunt.


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