Fresh summons has been issued to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s (KCR) daughter and BRS leader K Kavitha, today by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after she skipped a date with the central probe agency earlier in the day in connection with its ongoing probe into the purported Delhi excise policy scam case.

According to officials, K Kavitha has been summoned for questioning in a money laundering case related to the Delhi policy scam case on March 20.

The BRS leader’s legal team submitted a representation to the probe agency in which she said matters regarding her summoning for questioning by the ED is now before the Supreme Court and “the outcome thereof must be awaited before any further proceedings take place with respect to the subject summons”.

Earlier today, K Kavitha skipped on a summon by the ED and instead sent her “authorized representative” (an office bearer of her party), along with a letter wherein the BRS MLC said the she sending her as the summons do not explicitly require her being there in person. Kavitha also cited a pending plea before the Supreme Court in which has sought protection from arrest and quashing of summons against her in the case.

Kavitha wrote in her letter to ED: “I humbly beseech your good self that the proceedings before the Supreme Court being sacred and sacrosanct, the outcome thereof must be awaited before any further proceedings take place with respect to the subject summons.”

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K Kavitha’s “authorized representative” handed a six-page representation against her deposition along with her bank statement, personal and business details to the ED investigation officer, according to reports.

Kavitha, who was questioned by the central agency for nine hours on March 11 and was asked to depose again on March 16. During the interrogation session, she was reportedly made to confront statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, an arrested accused in the case who allegedly who allegedly shares close ties with her, apart from those of few others involved in the case.

The BRS leader recently led a hunger strike in Delhi on March 10 seeking the passage of the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.

However, both Congress and the BJP have alleged that Kavitha’s hunger strike was a mere ploy to divert attention from her appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the purported Delhi liquor policy scam case.

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At least six people were injured after the police vehicle hit them at a market in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur. The accident took place in the Lambhua Police Station area on Thursday.

According to Inspector Shivakant Tripathi of Lambhua Police Station, Chowkidar Ranjit was en route to have the jeep’s tyres filled. Tripathi said the jeep’s tyre suddenly burst, causing the driver to lose control which hit six people in the market.

The injured were immediately rushed to the Community Health Centre, said police officials.

A huge crowd gathered at the accident spot and thrashed the driver. They even protested outside the station and demanded action against the driver.

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Superintendent of Police Somen Burma said that Additional Superintendent of Police Vipul Srivastava has been sent to the spot to investigate the matter. He said during the investigation if the driver is found guilty or the vehicle is found unfit, strict legal action will be taken against those responsible.

Earlier in January, a six-month-old girl was killed and five people were injured after their car was hit by a police emergency vehicle coming from the opposite direction on the Gurugram-Faridabad road.

An FIR was registered against the ERV driver under sections 279 (rash driving), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304A (causing death by negligence), 427 (causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code at DLF phase 1 police station.

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Amid the uproar over the contentious crackdown against child marriages in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Saram, Wednesday, claimed that his regime ensured that almost an equal number of Hindus and Muslims were arrested in last month’s clampdown to fears that the action was not deemed communal in nature.

Speaking during his reply to a discussion on Vote of Thanks on the Governor’s speech in Assam Assembly’s Budget session, Sarma fired shots at the Opposition saying “I got some of our people pickup up too because you all feel bad”, while also revealing that the ratio of arrests of Muslims to Hindus since the February 3 crackdown is 55:45.

The chief minister said that such crackdowns will be repeated every six months to ensure that child marriage is eradicated in the state by 2026.

Taking more shots at the opposition, Sarma said that “some people are weeping for criminals” for not feeling the pain and anguish of 11-year-old girls who are forced into marriages and impregnated.

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CM Sarma claimed that according to the data provided by NFHS 5 (National Family Health Survey), child marriages are mostly prevalent in Muslim-majority districts Dhubri and South Salmara and not in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia (Hindu-majority areas).

Sarma claimed that since opposition puts communal shades on his every decision, he asked the Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police “to pick up a few from there as well.”

He said the NFHS 5 data is corroborated by the NFHS 4 data which was collected during the Congress rule in the state, and like its successor, shows that the highest of underage marriages and childbirths are prevalent in lower Assam districts which has a higher Muslim population.

The Himanta Biswa Sarma led BJP regime’s decision to prosecute child marriages under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), has sparked a row in the northeastern state.

Opposition parties, led by the Congress have accused Sarma’s government of “terrorizing minorities” by slapping POCSO on those accused of marrying underage girls. Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia had said slapping of POCSO and rape cases on child marriage accused have created disturbances in the society with many old people getting arrested.

In a query by Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, the Sarma informed the assembly that 4,111 incidents of child marriage took place in the state from April 2021 to February 2023.

He said that a total of 4,670 cases have been registered against 7,142 accused, adding that 3,483 persons have been arrested, of which 1,182 are in jail, 2,253 have got bail and notices have been issued to 48 others.

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