Hyderabad: Hours after the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha skipped her appearance before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning, the agency issued fresh summons to the MLC to be present herself before them on March 20 in connection to the Delhi excise policy scam, officials said.
The daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) has cited the impending litigation in the Supreme Court as her primary reason. The 45-year-old BRS leader was earlier questioned on Saturday for nine hours. Accepting the plea of the BRS leader for an urgent hearing on her petition, the Supreme Court posted the plea for interim relief against the summons issued by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case to March 24.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the submissions by Kavitha and agreed to list the hearing of Kavitha's plea on March 24. Seeking an urgent hearing of the plea, Kavitha's lawyer said, "can a woman be called to the office of the Enforcement Directorate? It is completely against the law."
During Kavitha's questioning on March 11, she was confronted with statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran, who has been accused to be acting as her benami. Before she appeared before the agency, Kavitha met the party workers. Her brother and Minister KT Rama Rao escorted her after a brief meeting at KCR's Delhi residence.
According to the agency, Pillai "represented the south group", an alleged liquor cartel that paid kickbacks to the Delhi's ruling dispensation. Bribe amounting to about Rs 100 crore has been paid to the Aam Aadmi Party to help the liquor group to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21. So far, the Ed has arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Also read: SC to hear Kavitha plea on March 24; ED to quiz her tomorrow in Delhi
Earlier on Wednesday, leaders from 13 opposition parties attended a round-table conference held by Kavtha and unanimously demanded the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament. Last week, Kavitha sat on a day-long hunger strike demanding the introduction of the bill in the current Budget session of Parliament, which she cited as prior appointment to alter her first appearance summon date.
