Delhi court sends K Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23 in CBI case

A Delhi Court on Monday sent Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader K Kavitha to judicial custody till April 23, in connection with her April 11 arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi Liquor Policy case .Special Judge (PC Act) Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts passed the order this morning. .Kavitha was earlier remanded to the CBI's custody till April 15. She was produced before the trial court this morning after the CBI's custody period ended. The CBI alleged that she has not been answering its queries and sought fourteen more days of custody. .Advocate Nitesh Rana appeared for Kavitha and opposed the CBI's request for further custody. "As per them she has not answered as per their will and therefore she can't be sent to judicial custody. But she cannot answer in a customised manner," Rana submitted today. .Delhi Court remands K Kavitha to CBI custody till April 15.The Court eventually decided to send the BRS leader to judicial custody till April 23. .Kavitha was arrested by the CBI on April 11 by the CBI from judicial custody. She had earlier been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 15 from Hyderabad, following allegations that she was involved in a money laundering case connected with the alleged Delhi excise scam. The case against Kavitha and others originated in 2022 when a First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging that the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 was manipulated to facilitate monopolisation and cartelisation of wholesale and retail liquor trade in Delhi.The case was registered under provisions of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Particularly, it was alleged that certain persons from South India were benefited in the process and some amount of their profits was given to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).The ED is separately probing money laundering allegations in the case..While seeking her remand on April 12, the CBI told the Court that the BRS leader had played a "big role" in arranging the money.It also cited WhatsApp chats to claim that Kavitha was holding partnership in the wholesale license of liquor company Indospirit through a proxy.The central agency accused Kavitha of giving evasive and contrary replies during her recent questioning.Calling her a kingpin and main conspirator, the CBI said the involvement of others was still being investigated and thus Kavitha's interrogation was necessary..Kavitha's counsel questioned the timing of the arrest and submitted that the evidence being cited by the CBI now to justify her arrest were much older.They referred to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and alleged that the central agency by arresting Kavitha in the second case, was attempting to prolong a popular leader's custody.