Excise case: Supreme Court to hear Kavitha’s bail pleas on August 20

On August 12, the court sought responses from the CBI and ED on the BRS leader's pleas challenging the Delhi High Court's July 1 verdict

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday BRS leader K Kavitha‘s pleas seeking bail in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The apex court had on August 12 sought responses from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Kavitha’s pleas challenging the Delhi High Court’s July 1 verdict denying her bail in these cases.

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As per the cause list of August 20 uploaded on the top court website, a Bench of justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan is slated to hear her pleas. During the arguments on August 12, Kavitha’s counsel had sought bail contending that she has been in custody for around five months and the charge sheet and prosecution complaint have already been filed by the CBI and the ED respectively.

A prosecution complaint is the ED’s equivalent of a charge sheet. Her lawyer had referred to the apex court’s verdicts on the pleas filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia.

The top court had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to the alleged scam. Sisodia was granted bail in both the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The High Court had on July 1 dismissed Kavitha’s bail pleas in both the cases, saying she was prima facie one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy related to the formation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. The CBI and the ED have lodged separate cases pertaining to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the policy.

The ED arrested Kavitha (46) from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15. The CBI arrested her on April 11 in connection with the corruption case linked to the alleged scam. Kavitha has denied the allegations.

While dismissing her bail pleas, the high court had said no case for grant of regular bail was made for now as the investigation is at a crucial stage. It had rejected her plea for relief on the grounds of being a woman, saying as a well-educated person and a former MP, she cannot be equated to a vulnerable female, and the court cannot lose sight of the “serious allegations” against her.

In the High Court, Kavitha had challenged the May 6 order of a trial court which had dismissed her bail applications in the CBI’s corruption case as well as the ED’s money-laundering case.

Before the High Court in the ED case, the BRS leader had said 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”.