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Delhi liquor policy case: K Kavitha was questioned by the ED for nine hours
New Delhi:
K Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was questioned for nine hours by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi liquor policy case. She has been summoned again on March 16.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is already under the ED’s custody in the same case. He was also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged corruption in framing Delhi’s new liquor policy, which was later scrapped.
A key focus of the investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case is on an alleged network of middlemen, businessmen and politicians which the central agencies have called the “South Group”.
The ED alleged the liquor policy was tweaked to help companies of the “South Group” and Mr Sisodia diluted the policy in their favour without any consultation.
One of the “South Group” people under the radar is Ms Kavitha. Her father K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, is a key opposition leader in the centre. This is led to allegations against the BJP-led centre of using central agencies to harass opposition leaders with false cases.
“In India, there’s no difference between Enforcement Directorate summons and (Narendra) Modi’s summons… It is a practice now wherever there’s an election, before PM, the Enforcement Directorate comes. What can the opposition do? Go to people’s court or the Supreme Court,” Ms Kavitha told NDTV on Friday.
Ms Kavitha, 44, has said the BJP is trying to “intimidate my leader”, referring to her father KCR, who is hoping for a third consecutive term in power in the state, where assembly elections are due in a few months.
The AAP has denied taking bribe from anyone, whether traders or politicians, in framing the Delhi liquor policy. The BJP has said the AAP would not have withdrawn the liquor policy if it was confident of not having done anything wrong.