Edited by Deepali Verma
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), aiming to know more about the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and paying kickbacks to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, has issued summons to former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha on January 16, said people familiar with the development.
The primary questioning in the case to the BRS leader was conducted by the ED in March, 2023. The anti-money laundering probe agency aims to unearth her role in influencing the policy and her role in the alleged paying bribes.
The allegations are such that Kavitha was in touch with AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair, who was regularly conducting meetings with businessmen from the liquor industry and politicians at the time of policy formulation and implementation.
Officials revealed that she is expected to be questioned regarding her association with Sameer Mahendru’s Indo Spirits Group which is in an effort to control multiple retail zones in Delhi, and additionally, in connection with advance payments of kickbacks worth ₹100 crore allegedly made by the South Group, of which she is a member, to AAP leaders.
Kavitha’s counsel Nitesh Rana said – “The Supreme Court has issued directions not to summon her. So, this summon stands violative of the court order”.
Her past interrogation session involved being confronted with the statements of Butchibabu Gorantla, her former chartered accountant and Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who had represented her interests during multiple meetings with Nair and others. Butchibabu was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February while the ED arrested Pillai in March last year.
Butchibabu, in his recorded statement before the ED officials in February 2023 said that – “There existed a political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister of Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal) and the (former) deputy CM (Manish Sisodia) of Delhi. During the course of these meetings, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair on 19th-20th March, 2021”.
The federal agency is on the fourth issue of summons to Kejriwal asking him to appear before it on January 18.
As per Butchibabu’s statement to the ED, recorded by HT, “Vijay Nair is putting in efforts to impress K Kavitha with what he can manage in the policy. Vijay Nair was also seen acting on behalf of the CM of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal and (former) Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. The understanding was such that in exchange of the favours managed in the policy and in the Delhi liquor business for K Kavitha, some additional funds would be released to the AAP”.
“The deal that was planted between K Kavitha and top AAP leaders, she had been granted stakes in partnership with Sameer (Mahendru) and distribution of Pernod Ricard,” ED recorded in its court documents earlier.
Pillai, as per the investigators, represented Kavitha’s ‘benami’ or illegal investments. He faces the allegations of being actively involved in cartel formation and acted as an accomplice in paying bribe money on behalf of the South Group.
The allegations of ED read that a part of the ₹100 crore kickbacks generated in the Delhi excise policy was used in the AAP campaign in the 2022 Goa assembly election. The agency has further estimated the loss in the excise policy irregularities at ₹2,873 crore.
The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy looked to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It had expectations to replace a sales-volume based regime with a licence fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately facilitating the customers with a better buying experience. The policy made the introduction of discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.
The plan saw an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending a probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This caused the policy to being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor hampered the move as he incorporated a few last-minute changes, which resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.
