Delhi excise policy case: Kavitha colluded with Kejriwal, Sisodia; assets worth over Rs 128 crore attached, says ED

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which said its investigation into the Delhi excise policy scam case found BRS leader K. Kavitha conspired with the top AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his then deputy Manish Sisodia, for getting favours, has also revealed that out of proceeds of crime generated, assets worth Rs 128.79 crore have been traced and attached so far.

The revelation comes after Kavitha, the daughter of BRS supremo and former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was arrested on March 15 from Hyderabad in the case. A special court here had sent her to ED for custodial interrogation till March 23.

"A search was also conducted at the residence of Kavitha in Hyderabad on March 15. During the search proceedings, the ED officials were obstructed by the relatives and associates of Kavitha," an agency official said.

The ED investigation so far has also revealed that Kavitha, along with others, conspired with the top leaders of the AAP including CM Kejriwal and then Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to get favours in the Delhi excise policy formulation and implementation.

"In exchange for these favours, she was involved in paying Rs 100 crore 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," a senior ED official said.

The official said that Kavitha and her associates were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to the 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,” said the official.

The ED has filed one prosecution complaint and five supplementary complaints in the case so far.

"Further, out of proceeds of crime generated, assets worth Rs 128.79 crore have been traced so far and have been attached vide Provisional Attachment Orders dated January 24, 2023 and July 3, 2023. Both the attachment orders have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority, New Delhi," the official said.