New Delhi: BRS leader K Kavitha, who was arrested in March this year, walked out of Tihar Jail here late Tuesday evening to a rousing welcome by her party members, hours after the Supreme Court granted her bail in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Terming her arrest as illegal, Kavitha, 46, said that BRS and KCR team is “unbreakable” and vowed to fight on politically and legally.
BRS workers and supporters, who had gathered outside the jail, celebrated her release by dancing to the beats of drums and bursting crackers. Kavitha’s brother and BRS working president K T Rama Rao was also present.
Addressing party workers and supporters outside the prison, Kavitha said that the entire country knows that she was “put in jail for political reasons” since she has done “nothing wrong”.
“We will fight and prove ourselves innocent …we were always tough. We are fighters. We will fight it out legally. We will fight it out politically. By sending us to jail illegally, they have only made the BRS and KCR team unbreakable,” Kavitha said after she was released from Tihar jail where she was lodged for nearly five months.
The Enforcement Directorate had arrested her from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on March 15 and the CBI had arrested her from Tihar jail on April 11.
Kavitha has been accused of being part of the ‘South Group’, a cartel of businessmen and politicians, which allegedly paid kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Delhi’s ruling AAP in return for liquor licences. She has denied all allegations
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) founder and Kavitha’s father K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly called KCR, had alleged that she was arrested due to BJP’s vendetta.
“Thank You Supreme Court. Relieved. Justice prevailed,” K T Rama Rao said on X after his sister was granted bail. BRS leaders distributed sweets at the party’s headquarters in Hyderabad.
While granting bail on Tuesday, an apex court bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan noted that Kavitha had been in custody for around five months and the probe against her by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was complete in these cases.
The court allowed Kavitha’s appeals against the July 1 verdict of the Delhi High Court which had denied her bail in the two cases.
While quashing the high court verdict, the apex court said Kavitha shall not make any attempt to tamper with evidence or influence the witnesses and shall deposit her passport with the trial judge.
It said she shall regularly attend the trial court proceedings and cooperate to ensure expeditious disposal of the trial.
The two federal agencies came in for some sharp criticism over their “fairness” in dealing with the matter, with the apex court observing: “Sorry to see this state of affairs”.
“You will pick and choose anyone?” it asked while referring to one of the witnesses whose statements were read out in the court during the arguments.
“The prosecution has to be fair. You can’t pick and choose anyone. What is this fairness? A person who incriminates himself has been made a witness,” the bench said, adding, “Tomorrow you will pick up anyone as you choose and leave anyone as you choose as an accused? Very fair and reasonable discretion!”
When Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the probe agencies, referred to some witnesses who have claimed Kavitha’s involvement in the alleged scam, the court told him it would be compelled to “observe everything” if he tried to pull it into the details.
“We will have to observe about the fairness and impartiality of the investigating agencies,” it said, adding, “If you want those observations, you argue more”.
PTI