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She said that due to some prior commitments, she wouldn’t be available on December 6. She proposed December 11, 12, 14 and 15.
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the connection with Delhi Excise Policy scam on December 6, has written to the agency on Monday saying she will able to meet them between December 11-15 due to her preoccupied schedule.
Days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) summoned K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, she wrote to the investigative agency that she would not be available on December 6.
She said that due to some prior commitments, she wouldn’t be available on December 6. She proposed December 11, 12, 14 and 15.
She also clarified that her name is not mentioned in the CBI FIR and in the complaint.
The response of Kavitha, who is also an MLC from Telangana and is an active politician from Bharath Rashtra Samithi (BRS) came after the CBI summoned her for questioning on December 6 in connection with the excise policy case, in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia has been named as accused number number one.
In her letter to the CBI, the BRS leader said that she was in receipt of email, wherein the CBI have stated that the copy of FIR as well as complaint is available on the website.
“I have carefully gone through the contents of the FIR, list of accused persons as well as the contents of the complaint dated 22.07.2022. I wish to place on record that my name does not figure in any manner whatsoever,” she said.
“As proposed by you I am not in position to meet on 6th December 2022, because of my preoccupied schedule, I will be able to meet you either on 11th, 12th or 14th 15th of this month whichever is convenient to you at my residence in Hyderabad. Same may please be confirmed at the earliest,” the daughter of the chief minister said.
She also said that she is a law abiding citizen and “will cooperate with the investigation”. “I will meet you on any of the above said dates to cooperate with the investigation. It is made clear that this is without prejudice to my legal rights available under law,” Kavitha added.
Kavitha came into the news after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that she was a key member of the “South Group” which paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) via another arrested businessman and AAP communication incharge Vijay Nair.
The ED, which is probing the money laundering case in the excise policy case made the revelations in the court last week after arresting Gurugram based businessman Amit Arora, one of the accused named in the case.
In its remand paper of Arora, the financial probe agency alleged that the 12 per cent profit margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it as a kickback to the AAP leaders.
“As per the investigation carried so far, Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from a group, called South Group, controlled by Sarath P Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma, K Kavitha, who is elected as Member of Legislative Council from Nizamabad Local Authorities’ Constituency in October 2020 in the bypoll, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, by various persons including Arora,” the ED said.
The ED said that the same has been disclosed by the arrested accused Arora in his statements.
The ED has so far arrested Nair, Hyderabad-based Abhishek Bonipally, Reddy, Arora, Sameer Mahendru, MD of Indo Spirits and others in the case.
The ED further alleged that Nair was not an ordinary worker of the AAP but a “close associate” of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The CBI had filed the FIR on August 17 this year based on a complaint received from Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, who flagged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy.
Besides Sisodia, the CBI has named 14 others, including three public servants – then excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna; then deputy excise commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant commissioner (excise) Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Some private persons, including Nair, the AAP communication in-charge and former CEO of Mumbai-based Only Much Louder; Mahendru, MD of Indospirits; Manoj Rai, a former employee of Lucknow-based Pernod Ricard; Arora, director of Gurgaon-based Buddy Retail Private Limited; Dinesh Arora, Delhi-based Mahadev Liquors; Sunny Marwah, authorised signatory of Mahadev Liquors; Arun Ramchandra Pillai of Karnataka’s Bangalore and Arjun Pandey of Gurgaon, have also been named in the CBI FIR.
