Arrested BRS leader K Kavitha has withdrawn from the Supreme Court her plea on Tuesday against the ED (Enforcement Directorate) summons of 2023 in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.
The plea was pending since last September in the top court, which was examining whether or not the ED has the power to summon her in light of a July 2022 judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for Kavitha, told the top court that his client would like to withdraw the petition, keeping in view that she had already been arrested on March 15 and remanded to ED custody till March 23. "Following this development, and as a result, the writ has become infructuous," Chaudhary told the SC and sought the court's permission to withdrew it, which was allowed by the SC Bench, headed by Justice Bela M Trivedi.
On the other hand, Kavitha's plea filed on Monday in the top court is likely to be taken up for hearing after the Holi vacation. Her plea said her arrest is "unconstitutional, illegal and unwarranted in law."
The ED on the evening of March 15 had arrested Kavitha from her Hyderabad residence in the case.
The ED is investigating Kavitha's role in allegedly influencing the now-scrapped liquor policy in the national capital and bribery allegations. In March last year, her writ petition was tagged with a 2018 plea filed by Nalini Chidambaram.
Kavitha, 46, the daughter of the former Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao has claimed innocence in the Delhi excise policy scam case.
Kavitha said that her arrest was a blatant abuse of power, which violated an effective stay on her arrest, at least until March 19.
The ED, in its allegation, claimed Kavitha was linked to a "South Group" lobby of liquor traders who were trying to play a larger role under the now scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.
It has been alleged by the ED that one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least ₹100 crores on behalf of AAP leaders from the "South Group", allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.
