The Enforcement Directorate on Friday arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and MLC K Kavitha for her alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case, ANI reported.

Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, will be taken to Delhi, where she will be questioned in connection with the allegations. The action comes after the central agency conducted a raid at her home in Hyderabad, reported NDTV.

The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation alleging irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.

The agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party modified the policy to ensure a 12% profit margin for wholesalers and a nearly 185% profit margin for retailers.

The Enforcement Directorate has claimed that Kavitha is part of a so-called “South Group” that paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party through arrested businessman Vijay Nair.

Kavitha was first questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for over seven hours in December 2022. On March 11 last year, she was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in the same case for over nine hours.

She had then moved the Supreme Court against the Enforcement Directorate summons. On February 28, the court had extended immunity from coercive action by the central agency till March 13.

However, on Friday, Kavitha’s brother and former Telangana minister KT Rama Rao alleged that the Enforcement Directorate officials violated its undertaking of no coercive action, reported NDTV. In a video, he was seen confronting the central agency officials after they asked him how family members entered Kavitha’s house.

Background

According to the agency, apart from Kavitha, others in the alleged “South Group” include Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party Lok Sabha MP from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh, his son Raghav Magunta and P Sarath Chandra Reddy, the son of PV Ramprasad Reddy, who is the founder of the Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma.

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the “South Group secured uninhibited access, attained stakes in established wholesale businesses and multiple retail zones [over and above what was allowed in the policy]”.

Kavitha has, in the past, said she has done nothing wrong and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government of harassing its political adversaries.

Kavitha’s arrest comes after the arrest of two senior Aam Aadmi Party leaders – Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh – who are currently in jail in connection with the case.

The Enforcement Directorate has also sent summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the case. However, the Aam Aadmi Party chief has skipped eight summons since November 2 following which the agency moved a Delhi court.