The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted withdrawal of the plea by BRS leader and former Telangana Chief Minister’s daughter K. Kavitha against Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons in connection to the Delhi Excise Policy case.
The petition was dismissed as withdrawn by a bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal, with liberty to petitioner K Kavitha to pursue appropriate remedies in accordance with law.
During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhri, appearing for BRS leader Kavitha, urged that the writ had become infructuous and may be dealt with as such. The senior Advocate stated that as the petitioner has been arrested, she will take all her pleas in a fresh matter. Considering the aforesaid submission, Justice Trivedi dictated the order.
Earlier, the matter was adjourned on March 15, as related cases which raise the legal point whether a woman can be summoned by the ED were not listed. Notably, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED sought to retract a statement made by him in September, 2023 to the effect that summons to the BRS leader would be deferred by 10 days. The apex court did not indulge into the issue and posted the matter high on board for today.
BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested by the investigation agency on March 15 from her residence at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. On the same day, a Delhi court remanded the BRS leader to ED custody till March 23. The BRS leader, who was produced before the court, claimed that the arrest was illegal and she would fight it in court.
The ED is currently investigating Kavitha’s role in influencing the now-scrapped liquor policy in the national capital and related bribery allegations. She filed a separate writ petition in the Supreme Court yesterday challenging the arrest by the ED.