New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding a bail plea from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha. She is seeking default bail in the Delhi Excise policy case. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja issued the notice to the CBI and scheduled the next hearing for July 12.

Advocates Nitesh Rana and Mohit P Rao, representing Kavitha, argued that during the consideration of the charge sheet on July 6, the court had found the charge sheet to be defective. They further contended that Kavitha should be granted default bail as the CBI failed to file a complete charge sheet within the mandatory 60-day period. They also requested interim bail for her pending the outcome of the current bail application.

Kavitha's previous regular bail applications have been dismissed by both the trial court and the High Court. She remains in judicial custody for both the CBI and money laundering cases. She was first arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on March 15, followed by an arrest by the CBI on April 11.

The ED has filed a charge sheet against her in the Delhi Excise Policy money laundering case. The CBI investigation was recommended based on findings from a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary in July, which indicated prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010.

The ED and CBI allege that irregularities occurred while modifying the excise policy, including undue favours extended to license holders, waiving or reducing license fees, and extending the L-1 license without proper authority approval. The agencies claim that beneficiaries diverted illegal gains to accused officials and made false entries in their accounts to evade detection.

It is alleged that the Excise Department decided to refund an earnest money deposit of approximately Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer, against set rules. Additionally, despite no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered license fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, resulting in an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.

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