Kavitha likely to get bail; BRS netas rush to Delhi

Hyderabad: Senior BRS leaders, including party working president KT Rama Rao and a group of MLAs, landed in the national capital as they anticipate MLC K Kavitha getting bail in the Delhi Liquor Policy case, which will come up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The BRS leaders are hopeful of Kavitha getting bail.

Several MLAs, including KTR and T Harish Rao, have landed in Delhi. It is said that they would receive Kavitha from the Tihar jail. She has been in jail for the last five and a half months in the now-scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy case. She was arrested by the ED from her residence in Hyderabad on March 15 and produced in court on March 16.

Kavitha was arrested on April 11 by the CBI while she was in judicial custody. The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi had rejected her bail plea on several occasions, as the investigating agencies had told the court that she was the prime accused and could influence evidence. The agencies also filed a charge sheet stating that she was A-32 and was involved in the proceeds of the crime.

The Indo Spirit benefited with over Rs 192 crore (a 12 per cent profit margin) until the policy was scrapped and AAP was given Rs 100 crore kickbacks. The ED had said that the liquor policy scam was worth Rs 1,100 crore; Rs 292.8 crore was the amount Kavitha is related to.

The BRS leader filed the bail petition in the Supreme Court on August 12, challenging the decision of the Delhi HC rejecting the bail on July 1. The SC had asked the investigating agencies to file counters.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Kavitha, has said that she was the only woman accused in the case in which both Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leader Manish Sisodia got bail. As a woman, she had the right to get bail under Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Party leaders who had gone to Delhi during the last hearing had alleged that, for no reason, Kavitha was in jail for over five months.