The Supreme Court granted bail to Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K. Kavitha in the cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Hearing the bail plea of Kavitha, a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan asked the probe agencies to be fair and questioned the selective approach in treating some accused in the case as approvers, Live Law reported.
"Prosecution has to be fair. A person who incriminates himself has been made a witness! Tomorrow you pick up anyone as you please? You cannot pick and choose any accused. What is this fairness? Very fair and reasonable discretion!” the bench observed while hearing, Live Law reported.
The bench granted bail to Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, observing she has been under custody for over five months and the probe against her by central agencies is over.
The SC also set aside Delhi High Court’s observation that hat the proviso to Section 45 PMLA do not apply to a woman of high status.
The daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was arrested from her residence in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad on March 15 by ED. Kavitha, an MLC, has been accused of being a key member of the "South Group", which allegedly paid the ruling AAP in Delhi kickbacks of Rs 100 crore in return for a big share of liquor licences in the national capital. The CBI later arrested her from Tihar prison in a connected case on April 11.
