K Kavitha, BRS leader and former Telangana Chief Minister KCR’s daughter, on Saturday, denied all allegations terming her arrest in the liquor policy scam case as ‘illegal.’ The BRS MLC said it is ‘a fabricated case.’
The Telangana leader was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday after the probe agency raided her residence in Hyderabad. She was later brought to New Delhi for questioning.
Kavitha is set to be produced before a special PMLA court on Saturday by ED which seeks to obtain her remand for custodial interrogation in the money laundering case. She arrived at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court with ED’s Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain and Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta.
‘She Formatted Her Devices After First Summon’: ED In Court
During the remand hearing in Delhi, the Enforcement Directorate said Kavitha formatted 4 out of 10 of her devices right after she received the first summoned by the agency in the Liquor policy case and it raised several questions about her conduct.
The probe agency also alleged that Kavitha and her party workers were not cooperating during the investigation and created a ruckus on several occasions.
“We have summoned her husband, and servant for Monday for extraction of digital data. We are also summoning two other persons who gave statements against her for confronting her,” said ED.
“One phone has scanty material and scanty data which shows that the earlier phones were recently formatted and attempted to be disposed of,” the agency told the court.
Soon after her arrest, a video of Kavitha’s brother KTR’s heated exchange of words between ED officials went viral on social media.
A team of doctors and medics were seen entering the federal agency’s office in central Delhi in the morning where Kavitha was housed after her arrest.
KTR alleged ED produced an “illegal arrest warrant” against Kavitha, while the probe agency officials told KTR not to “obstruct” the team’s work. An ED official is also heard telling him that “legal remedies are available”.
The ED may seek her 10-day custody from the court while Kavitha’s defence is expected to contest the same as they had called the Friday ED action illegal as her petition for no coercive action in this case is pending before the Supreme Court and is listed for March 19.
Kavitha’s arrest a day before the Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections, may have some psychological impact on party workers.
Meanwhile, the BRS workers on Saturday staged protests at the Jubilee Hills Bus stand in Hyderabad against Kavitha’s arrest in the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
Kavitha’s arrest came as a rude shock to the BRS which is already limping after losing power. Senior party leaders PTI spoke to, said on condition of anonymity, that the arrest of the prominent BRS leader will affect the morale of party members.
Earlier, the BRS MLC and former Lok Sabha member from Nizamabad had said she was ready to face any inquiry.
“We state that we will face any kind of inquiry. If the agencies come and ask us questions, we will certainly answer. But tarnishing leaders’ images by giving selective leaks to the media; people will refute it,” Kavitha had said.
(With PTI inputs)
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