The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha for questioning in a Delhi excise money laundering case on Thursday, officials said. Kavitha, 44, a Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party MLC, has been asked to depose on March 9 before the federal agency in the national capital.
Reacting to the summon, Kavitha called it the BJP-led Central government’s ‘tactic of intimidation’ and BRS from its fight to “expose your failures and raise voice for a brighter and better future for India.”
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader for over seven hours in Hyderabad, in connection with the case. Kavitha is also one of the representatives of the South Group which allegedly paid kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders.
She has been called so that she can be confronted with Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, an alleged frontman of the ‘south group’, who was arrested by the ED on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier said that Pillai “represented the south group”, an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others.
In the remand report filed in a Delhi court on Tuesday, the ED stated that Pillai, one of the key persons in the entire scam involving payments of huge kickbacks and the formation of the biggest cartel of the South Group, acted as the benami of Kavitha.
“The South Group was represented by Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai and Buchi Babu. Boinpalli facilitated the transfer of Rs 100 crore kickback in connivance and conspiracy with Nair and his associate Dinesh Arora. Now, we will have to confront Pillai with Kavitha,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also grilled for hours by the central agency in connection with the alleged kickbacks of Rs 100 crore which the AAP party/leaders received through hawala channel from the South Group.
The source said that Kavitha will be confronted with statements of Sisodia.
A Delhi court on Tuesday sent Pillai to ED custody till March 13 and liquor baron Amandeep Dhall, also arrested in connection with the case, to judicial custody till March 21.
According to the agency, South Group comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (MP, Ongole), his son Raghav Magunta, K. Kavitha (MLC, Telangana) and others.
The group was being represented by Arun Pillai, Abhishek Boinpalli and Butchi Babu.
Kavita’s Statement:
BRS MLC in Telangana K Kavitha, after being summoned by the ED, she would fully cooperate with the investigation agency but would seek legal opinion on the date of deposition in view of her proposed dharna in support of the women’s reservation bill in Delhi on March 10.
Kavitha said “these tactics of intimidation” against the fight of her father and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BRS would not deter them.
In a statement here, she claimed that she has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to depose on March 9 “in light of” her proposed hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in support of the women’s reservation bill on March 10.
“As a law-abiding citizen, I will fully cooperate with the investigation agencies. However, due to the dharna and prefixed appointments, I’ll seek legal opinions on the date of attending it,” she said.
“I would also like the ruling party at the Centre to know that these tactics of intimidation against the fight and voice of our leader, CM Shri KCR, and against the entire BRS Party will not deter us,” Kavitha said.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister KCR, the BRS will continue to fight to expose the BJP’s failures and raise voice for a brighter and better future for India, she said.
Telangana would “never bow before” the anti-people regime in Delhi, she claimed.
“Let me also remind the power mongers in Delhi that Telangana has never and will never bow before the oppressive anti-people regime. We will fearlessly and fiercely fight for the rights of the people,” she said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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