MLC and BRS leader K Kavitha was summoned by the CBI on Wednesday to appear for questioning about the February 26 Delhi liquor scandal.
Her protection against a summons and arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was extended by the Supreme Court on February 5 until February 16.
She was avoiding a summons and refusing to participate in the investigation, the investigate agency had claimed in court.
The Supreme Court ruled in September 2023 that the ED could not interrogate her unless her lawsuit contesting the summons was heard on November 20.
According to Kavitha’s petition, officials should question a woman at her home in accordance with the CrPC rather than calling her into the office. In addition, she had asked the court to prohibit the ED from summoning her in accordance with Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Kavitha has asserted in the past that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the BJP-led central government was “using” the ED as the party could not gain a “backdoor entry” into Telangana.
She is accused of being part of the ‘South Group’, a liquor cartel that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the AAP, to gain a larger share of the market in Delhi, under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2020-21.
She is charged with belonging to the “South Group,” a booze cartel that allegedly paid the AAP bribes of around Rs 100 crore in order to increase its market share in Delhi under the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy for 2020–21.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, declined the sixth ED summons to appear in court on February 19 in relation to the same matter.
Liquor scam
Delhi’s Excise Policy for 2021–2022 was made possible by the alleged political scandal known as LiquorGate, or the Delhi Liquor Scam, which included the Delhi Government. This strategy opened up the retail liquor market to private businesses and entrepreneurship firms. According to the charges, favors were given to private sector owners and shareholders, licensing fees were waived or reduced, and multiple licenses were created for all newly entering businesses in exchange for bribes.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s Excise policy 2021–22, which increased revenue by Rs 9,500 crores, portrayed it as a reform in the retail liquor and excise sectors. The primary goal of this program was to push out the retail industry and make room for sizable private enterprises. A panel of cabinet ministers formulated the policy, and in March 2021 the government authorized and adopted the proposal.
Upon presenting the final draft to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for approval, the latter passed the bill subject to the stipulation that new liquor vendors in areas that have not been confirmed could only open with the approval of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. “For the first time ever, all state-owned liquor shops were going to be shut and is transferred completely to private business players,” a Delhi government official declared in November 2021. Subsequently, the administration supported the continuation of the previous policy, withdrawing the new one.
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