NEW DELHI : Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court has reserved its order on regular bail of Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha in the Delhi Excise policy money laundering case.
The court will pronounce the order on May 6.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Rouse Avenue Court extended Kavitha’s judicial custody in the excise policy case till May 7.
The custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the same case was also extended till May 7.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had sought an extension of judicial custody of Arvind Kejriwal, K Kavitha and Chanpreet Singh in the Delhi excise policy case.
The Court also extended the judicial custody of K Kavitha in the Delhi excise policy case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED arrested K Kavitha MLC, Telangana Legislative Council, on March 15, 2024, in the case of the alleged liquor policy scam.
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 adding that there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer. (ANI)