Supreme Court Grants Bail to K Kavitha in Delhi Excise Policy Case

New Delhi: In a big relief to BRS leader K Kavitha, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted her bail in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The top court reprimanded the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate for the manner in which the investigation was being conducted in the case. Kavitha has been in judicial custody for the past five months.  

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted that Kavitha has been in custody for around five months and the probe against her by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was complete in these cases. The apex court set aside a July 1 Delhi High Court order denying her bail.

The two central probe agencies had lodged separate cases pertaining to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the policy.  The ED had arrested Kavitha (46) from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The CBI arrested her on April 11 from Tihar jail in connection with the corruption case.

The high court had dismissed Kavitha's bail pleas in both cases, saying she was prima facie one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy related to the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

However, Kavitha had denied all allegations. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, had told the high court she had "nothing to do" with the excise policy and there was a criminal conspiracy against her "orchestrated by the ruling party at the Centre with the active connivance of the ED".