New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday tagged BRS leader K Kavitha’s plea seeking protection from arrest and challenging the summons by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Kavitha had moved the apex court against the ED summons in connection with a money laundering case arising out of the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. She has denied all allegations against her.

Arguing on behalf of Kavitha, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal said the central agency had not followed the due procedure under PMLA while issuing summons.

A bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi tagged her plea with other similar petitions. Hearing the BRS leader’s plea, the court said norms dictate that a woman cannot be summoned for questioning before ED in office and added that the BRS leader should be quizzed at her residence, according to reports. The matter is listed for hearing after three weeks.

Kavitha has already deposed before the ED twice. First appearance was on March 11, when she was called by the ED to record her statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and she was grilled by the central agency fo5r about nine hours. During her second summon on March 20, the 44-year-old BRS leader was quizzed for about 10 hours

During questioning by the ED officials, Kavitha was confronted with the statements made by Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandran Pillai, according to official sources. Pillai was arrested by the ED earlier.

The central agency said Pillai ‘represented the south group’, an alleged liquor cartel linked to Kavitha and others. It is reported the ‘south group’ had paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party to gain huge shares of the market under the now-scrapped Delhi Excise police for 2020-21.

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