Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha was on Saturday produced before a Delhi court by the Enforcement Directorate after her arrest in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. The court granted the probe agency's request to keep Kavitha in custody for questioning till March 23.

In the court, K Kavitha termed her arrest "illegal".

The 46-year-old MLC, daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and former Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao, was arrested in Hyderabad on Friday and brought to Delhi late last night.

The Enforcement Directorate sought her 10-day custody from the court, while her defence contested the same as they had called the probe agency action 'illegal', as her petition for no coercive action in this case is pending before the Supreme Court and is listed for March 19.

Following her appearance in court, her lawyer accused the Enforcement Directorate of flouting Supreme Court directions while arresting her. He also told the Delhi court her arrest by the probe agency was 'illegal'.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate said it had not made any statement in any court, including the Supreme Court, that no coercive action would be taken against Kavitha. The probe agency also told the court that there was enough evidence and witness statements against Kavitha, in the excise policy money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate also accused the arrested BRS leader of destroying evidence in the case.

THE CASE

It alleged that one of the accused in the case, Vijay Nair, received kickbacks to the tune of at least Rs 100 crore on behalf of the AAP leaders from the "South Group", allegedly controlled by Sarath Reddy, Kavitha and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy.

Kavitha has then asserted that she had done nothing wrong and alleged that the Centre was "using" the Enforcement Directorate as the BJP could not gain a "backdoor entry" into Telangana.

Source: India Today