New Delhi: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court has decided to reserve the order on the interim bail plea of BRS leader K Kavitha for Monday, April 8, 2024. Kavitha, currently in judicial custody, had requested
New Delhi: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court has decided to reserve the order on the interim bail plea of BRS leader K Kavitha for Monday, April 8, 2024. Kavitha, currently in judicial custody, had requested interim bail citing her son’s upcoming exams as the reason. Her regular bail application is scheduled for a hearing on April 20. Kavitha, a prominent figure in the ‘South Group’, is implicated in a scandal involving alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to the ruling AAP in Delhi in exchange for a significant portion of liquor licenses in the national capital. Following her recent arrest, she was remanded to 14-day judicial custody. The court’s decision on the interim bail plea will be crucial for Kavitha’s legal situation, as it will determine her temporary release until the final bail hearing later in April.
Appearing for Kavitha, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that she should get the benefit of bail under the proviso to Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The proviso confers discretion on the court to release woman-accused on bail notwithstanding the rigorous conditions which are otherwise required to be satisfied for bail under PMLA.
He submitted the court is not “straight-jacketed” by the twin conditions for grant of bail under PMLA and is free to exercise discretion to grant the relief. Referring to Section 45 of PMLA and various judgments on the subject, Singhvi said: “The basic principle of woman, rationale of legislature and discretion, all these things are preserved.”
ED Opposes Interim Bail
Opposing the interim bail, special counsel Zoheb Hossain representing ED submitted that “woman” under the proviso of Section 45 of PMLA cover those women who do not have agency and not the ones who are “leading politicians in the State.”
“It is not for a woman who is in public life and leading politician of the state,” he said. Regarding Kavitha’s son’s exam, it was stated that seven out of twelve exams are already over and he also has his father and brother to support him.
Kavitha’s arrest
Kavitha was arrested on March 15 evening from Hyderabad, hours after an ED team searched the premises and interrogated her.
She is among one of the most high-profile politicians to be arrested by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case. Other political leaders arrested in this case include Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
All of them are accused of being part of a conspiracy to frame the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22 in a manner that enabled money laundering and benefitted certain liquor lobby groups.
The ED has claimed Kavitha was linked to a “South Group” lobby of liquor traders who were trying to play a larger role under the excise policy.
It has been alleged that one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least ₹100 crores on behalf of AAP leaders from the “South Group”, allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, K Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.
Kavitha has claimed that she is innocent and counter-alleged that the Central government was misusing the ED to gain ground in Telangana.
On March 16, the Rouse Avenue Court had remanded her to ED custody for a week. On March 22, the Supreme Court denied any urgent relief to her and added that she would have to approach the trial court for bail. On March 26, she was sent to judicial custody by the trial court until April 9.
Meanwhile, she filed the present plea for interim bail.
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