MAR 18, 2024 NEW DELHI: K Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader, allegedly paid ₹100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders through a conspiracy with top leaders including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, the Enforcement Directorate alleged on Monday. According to an ED statement, “Kavitha along with others “conspired with the top leaders of AAP including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for getting favours in the Delhi excise policy-formulation and implementation.” “In exchange of these favours, she was involved in paying ₹100 crore to the leaders of AAP,” the agency added. The daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was arrested by ED last week and is currently in the agency’s custody till March 23. In its statement, the ED said that through “corruption and conspiracy” in the formulation and implementation of Delhi excise policy, “a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickback from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP”. The ED alleged that the 45-year-old BRS leader and aides were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to AAP and to further generate profits/proceeds of crime from this entire conspiracy. ‘Kavitha a key conspirator’: ED While seeking remand of the BRS MLC, the ED told the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court that Kavitha was “one of the kingpins, a key conspirator and beneficiary of the Delhi excise policy scam”. Kavitha had asserted earlier that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the Centre was “using” the ED as the BJP could not gain a “backdoor entry” into Telangana. The AAP has accused the BJP was using ED and CBI as its “goons” to finish off political opponents. The agency said it has conducted searches at 245 locations across the country since the registration of a case in 2022 and has arrested 15 persons, including former Delhi deputy CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, AAP leader Sanjay Singh and some liquor businessmen. It has filed a total of six charge sheets in this case till now and had attached assets worth over ₹128 crore.
