K Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, conspired with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and some other party leaders for favours in the liquor policy, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has claimed. Kavitha was arrested by the central agency on Saturday from Hyderabad. She was produced before a special PMLA court the next day, which sent her to ED custody until March 23.
According to the agency, Kavitha allegedly paid Rs 100 crore to the AAP leaders in exchange for favours. The agency said that illegal funds, in the form of kickbacks from wholesalers, were generated for the AAP by "acts of corruption and conspiracy".
"In exchange of these favours, she was involved in paying Rs 100 crores to the leaders of AAP. By the acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickbacks, from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP," ED said.
The agency further said that Kavitha and her associates were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to AAP and to further generate profits/proceeds of crime from this entire conspiracy. "Till date, the ED has conducted searches on 245 locations across the country including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and other places. 15 Persons including Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Vijay Nair from AAP have been arrested in the case so far."
The ED had earlier claimed that Kavitha was linked to a "South Group" lobby of liquor traders who were trying to play a larger role under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22. The agency alleged that one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least Rs 100 crore from the "South Group" (allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha, and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy) on behalf of leaders of the AAP.
Manish Sisodia was the excise minister, under whose watch the new liquor policy was rolled out in Delhi. The ED arrested him for alleged corruption in February 2023. Months after this, the agency also arrested Sanjay Singh, another key leader in the AAP.
The ED recently sent a 9th summon to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to appear before it for questioning on March 21. The AAP has been claiming that the agency wants to arrest the chief minister before the Lok Sabha elections.
So far, the ED has conducted searches on 245 locations across the country including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and other places in the Delhi liquor policy case. Fifteen persons, including AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Vijay Nair have been arrested in the case.
The central agency has filed one prosecution complaint and 5 supplementary complaints in the case. Out of the proceeds of crime generated in the case, assets worth Rs 128.79 crore have been traced so far, the probe agency said on Monday.
Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday opposed the bail to Manish Sisodia and said some "high-profile individuals" may be arrested soon. "Regarding the conspiracy, our investigation is ongoing. Some high-profile person or anyone else may be arrested," the CBI’s counsel stated.
(With inputs from Arvind Ojha)