The ED claimed K Kavitha was part of a group that paid kickbacks to AAP leaders.
New Delhi/Hyderabad:
Telangana legislator K Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was named by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday in a court filing over its investigation into the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy.
Citing statements by an arrested Gurugram businessman Amit Arora, the central agency claimed Ms Kavitha was a key member of the “South Group” which paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) via another arrested businessman Vijay Nair.
“As per the investigation carried so far, Sh Vijay Nair, on behalf of leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of Rs. 100 Cr from a group; called South Group (controlled by Sh Sarath Reddy, Ms. K Kavitha, Sh Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy) by various persons including Amit Arora. The same has been disclosed by the arrestee Sh Amit Arora in his statements,” the ED said.
K Kavitha or her party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), are yet to comment on the allegation.
The agency made these claims while seeking the remand of Amit Arora, director of liquor company Buddy Retail Pvt Limited, from a local court after his arrest on Tuesday night. He was later sent to the ED’s custody till December 7 by the court.
In its filing, the agency also claimed that AAP leaders, some of whom are part of the government, considered the Delhi excise policy as a “device” to generate illegal funds at the cost of the state exchequer.
It said that at least 36 accused, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and a PA of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, “destroyed or used” 170 phones to conceal evidence of “kickbacks” worth thousands of crores of rupees in the alleged scam.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr Sisodia and the AAP have rubbished charges of impropriety and have ascribed the allegations to a vendetta by the BJP, which controls the government and agencies like the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The BJP is also at war with Telangana Chief Minister KCR who has launched an all-out attack on the party as he prepares to foray into national politics.
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