SC refuses bail to Kavitha in case related to Delhi excise policy scam

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to BRS leader K Kavitha, who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy scam case.A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi asked Kavitha to approach the trial court, saying it is a practice which this court is following and cannot bypass the protocol.The bench said as far as Kavitha’s plea challenging the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is concerned, the court is issuing notice to the ED and seeking its response in six weeks.
Ms Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR), was arrested from her Hyderabad home and brought to Delhi last Friday. Her ED custody ends on Saturday.“The petition challenging the provisions will come up with the pending matters,” the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Kavitha, according to PTI.During the hearing, Sibal told the bench that people are being arrested on the basis of an approver's statement. The court, however, said it is not going into the merit of the case at the moment.
The ED claims that Kavitha ‘conspired’ with top Aam Aadmi Party leaders, including the party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former minister Manish Sisodia, to get favours in the Delhi liquor policy by paying Rs100 crore to the political party. Kavitha has refuted the allegations and has termed ED's actions against her as ‘illegal’.Kavitha was also earlier questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the case.