Excise Policy Case: Rouse Avenue Court Extends K Kavitha’s Judicial Custody Till May 14

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Tuesday has extended the judicial custody of BRS leader K Kavitha till May 14 in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam.

HEARING

Special judge for CBI & ED matters Kaveri Baweja extended the custody of the Telangana MLC after she was produced before the court on expiry of her remand.

During the proceedings, the ED told the court that the investigation was at a crucial stage and it may file a charge sheet against Kavitha within a week.

CASE HISTORY

Previously in the matter, CBI through remand application stated that “Kavitha Kalvakuntla was required to be arrested in the instant case to conduct her custodial interrogation for confronting her with the evidence and witnesses to unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused, suspect persons regarding the formulation & implementation of the Excise Policy, and also to establish the money trail of ill-gotten money generated and to establish the role of other accused/suspect persons, including public servants, as well as to unearth the facts which are in her exclusive knowledge.”

Officials stated that the CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010.

The ED & CBI alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval.

The probe agencies stated that the beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.

As per the allegations, the Excise Department decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs.30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.

Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said and there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.