PMLA case: Kavitha custody extended, bail granted to 3 accused

NEW DELHI: The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday granted bail to three accused in the Delhi Excise Policy money laundering case and extended the judicial custody of K Kavitha till July 3.

Kavitha was produced physically before the court.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja granted bail to Prince Singh, Damodar and Arvind Kumar after cognisance of the charge sheet filed against them. They were not arrested during the investigation.

The court granted them bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh each and a surety bond in the like amount.

The court has extended the judicial custody of K Kavitha and Chanpreet Singh till July 3.

BRS leader K Kavitha was produced before the Rouse Avenue court. The court issued a production warrant to produce her and allowed her to meet her family members who were present during the hearing.

The court had taken cognisance of the ED charge sheet against K Kavitha on May 29.

Earlier on May 29, the Rouse Avenue Court took cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's supplementary prosecution complaint (chargesheet) filed against BRS leader K Kavitha and others in connection with the excise policy money laundering case.

Meanwhile, the Court also took cognisance against other accused mentioning their names.

Kavitha was arrested by the ED on March 15, 2024, and by the CBI on April 11, 2024. Earlier, CBI through remand application stated that "Kavitha Kalvakuntla was required to be arrested in the instant case to conduct her custodial interrogation for confronting her with the evidence and witnesses to unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused, suspect persons regarding the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy, as well as to establish the money trail of ill-gotten money generated and to establish the role of other accused/suspect persons, including public servants, as well as to unearth the facts which are in her exclusive knowledge."

The CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary's report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials said.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.

The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.

As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.

Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said and there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.