HYDERABAD: Kavitha Kalvakuntla, daughter of BRS supremo and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday evening at her residence in Hyderabad in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor scam after hours of searches.
The BRS MLC, who was arrested at 5.20 pm under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), was shifted by the ED to Delhi later at night from Shamshabad airport and will be held in the directorate’s office in the national capital for further questioning. Kavitha’s legal team is expected to challenge her arrest in the Supreme Court on Saturday.
The arrest by the ED came as a surprise and happened while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was holding a massive roadshow in the other end of the city. Amid heavy police deployment, BRS leaders and workers protested outside Kavitha’s Banjara Hills residence and shouted slogans against the ED and the prime minister.
Twelve ED officials, including two women officers, carried out the searches at her residence and seized five mobile phones, before arresting her for the “offence of money laundering as defined under Section 3 of PMLA, 2002 and punishable under Section 4 of PMLA”. Her husband DR Anil Kumar was informed in person about the arrest.
ED sources said that around 6 pm, nearly 20 people including lawyers, a person who said he was the brother of Kavitha, and others entered the premises and created a ruckus. They did not produce any identity proof when asked and violated rules by entering the house without permission, they added.
Kavitha’s brother and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, and her cousin and senior party leader T Harish Rao entered the residence around the time of the arrest.
Rama Rao had an argument with the ED Deputy Director Bhanu Priya Meena at the residence and claimed the agency officials did not have a transit warrant to move Kavitha to Delhi. He also alleged that the ED had undermined its undertaking given to the Supreme Court. “You are in serious trouble,” he was heard telling the officials.
ED’s action part of its inquiry: Kishan
In a press conference later, Harish Rao condemned the arrest, which he noted came just a day before the ECI was set to announce the poll schedule, and called it “undemocratic”.
Kavitha had been questioned by the ED thrice last year after which she did not depose before the agency despite summons citing a Supreme Court direction.
The ED had claimed Kavitha was linked to a “South Group” liquor lobby who played a key role in the Delhi excise policy scam. The investigating agencies zeroed in on her following the testimony of accused-turned- approvers including Magunta Raghava Reddy, Dinesh Arora and Aurobindo Pharma’s Sarath Chandra Reddy. ED sources said that they will now confront Kavitha with the testimony of those who had turned approver in the liquor scam.
It is alleged that AAP leader Vijay Nair accepted kickbacks, on behalf of his party honchos, totalling `100 crore from the South Group, which is said to have been controlled by MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy and Kavitha.
Reacting to her arrest, BJP state chief and Union Tourism Minister Kishan Reddy said that the ED action was part of its inquiry into the case. “She was avoiding questioning. If she’s not guilty and not involved in the liquor case, Kavitha needs to appear before the ED or CBI to prove her innocence,” he said.