Delhi excise case: K Kavitha gets ED summons, seeks more time

HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued a summons to K Kavitha, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao's daughter, for her alleged involvement in the Delhi excise case.
Kavitha, who is a BRS legislative council member, has been asked to come for questioning to ED's Delhi office on Thursday. However, she has asked for time till March 15, stating that she has organised a protest at Jantar Mantar in support of the women's reservation bill. Kavitha has planned a day-long hunger strike backed by other opposition parties.
The summons was issued a day after Hyderabad businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai was arrested in the case. ED has accused Pillai of being a front for Kavitha. An ED official said, "We have Pillai in custody till March 13. We want to confront Kavitha with him regarding their transactions."
In response to the summons, Kavitha took to Twitter on Wednesday morning and called it "tactics of intimidation".
"I would also like the ruling party at the Centre to know that these tactics of intimidation against the fight and voice of our leader, CM KCR, and against the entire BRS party will not deter us. Under the leadership of KCR Garu, we will continue to fight to expose your failures and raise voice for a brighter and better future for India," she said in a statement.
ED in its prosecution complaint (charge sheet) had claimed that Kavitha was one of the key persons in what is known as the 'South Group' that bribed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to fund the elections in Goa.
E D alleged the accused formed a cartel including retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers that include Pillai and Kavitha. The others include Raghav Magunta, son of YSRCP MP of Ongole in Andhra Pradesh Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, non-executive director of Aurobindo Pharma Sarath Reddy, businessman Abhishek Boinpally and Kavitha’s former chartered accountant Buchi Babu.
Collectively, ED is calling them the ‘South Group’. The group has been accused of giving `100 crore as kickbacks to another accused, Vijay Nair, in exchange of favours. On March 5, a week after former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s arrest by CBI in the alleged scam, nine top leaders of eight political parties had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the BJP-led Centre of misusing central investigating agencies and Raj Bhavans to launch a witch-hunt against Opposition leaders. The move was triggered by KCR.