Delhi court extends ED custody of K Kavitha till March 26

Special Judge MPs/MLAs cases Kaveri Baweja after hearing arguments on behalf of Counsel for ED and Defence Counsel extended the custody of Kavitha by three more days till March, 26.

Kavitha was arrested by the investigating agency on March, 15, after raiding her residence in Hyderabad and obtained seven days of ED custody on March 16 for interrogation in the Money Laundering case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

ED’s Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain moved an application under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) seeking the extension of the custody for 5 more days of K Kavitha.

In this matter, an FIR was registered by CBI on 17.8.2022 against Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi for irregularities in framing and implementation of the Excise policy of Delhi for 2021-22.

After that ED initiated an investigation by registering ECIR on 22.8.22 and filed a prosecution complaint on 26.11.22 and Special PMLA Court took cognizance of the offence.

ED sought five more days of custody by submitting that the arrestee was required to be interrogated concerning unearthing the remaining proceeds of the crime.

Counsel for ED submitted that the agency mentioned her role and the forensic report was extracted from Kavitha's phone and analyzed. She was also confronted with some statements but remained noncooperative in the investigation.

Counsel for ED had alleged that Kavitha was a key member of 'South Group' which has been accused of paying the AAP kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licenses in Delhi.

Counsel for Kavitha had moved a bail application on behalf of her which was objected to by ED by submitting that bail application cannot be entertained at this stage of investigation.

(With UNI inputs)