Excise scam: Delhi court reserves order on cognisance of charge sheet against K Kavitha

A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on May 31 its order on whether to take cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in an excise policy-linked money laundering case. Special Judge for ED and CBI matters Kaveri Baweja reserved the order after taking note of the anti-money laundering agency’s claim that it has sufficient evidence to prosecute her.

The ED also asserted it has adequate evidence against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to prosecute him in the case.

The court fixed May 28 for considering the supplementary charge sheet filed against Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party.

Kejriwal is out on interim bail till June 1 following an order of the Supreme Court which permitted him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. It has directed him to surrender on June 2 and go back to jail.

The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government‘s now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.

Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED filed a money laundering case on August 22, 2022, taking cognisance of the CBI FIR over alleged corruption that was lodged on August 17, 2022.