NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant any interim relief to BRS MLC and Telangana Chief Minister's daughter K Kavitha on summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in liquor scam related to now scrapped Delhi excise policy.
A bench led by Ajay Rastogi, however, agreed to examine a legal question whether a woman can be summoned for interrogation at the office of the investigating agency.
The court ordered to tag her plea along with the pending petitions of Nalini Chidambaram and and Ruchira Banerjee, wife of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and posted the matter for consideration after three weeks.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for her, contended that the question was related to whether she would be questioned here or at her residence, as summons were issued to her for interrogation in Delhi.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the plea for tagging, saying Banerjee's matter was different. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju on behalf of the ED said her plea had become infructuous.
In her plea, Kavitha contended summons issued against her was against the law. She also claimed the Enforcement Directorate is eliciting false statements from other witnesses by threatening to place them and their family members under arrest.
The investigation against her is nothing more than a fishing expedition being undertaken solely at the behest of the incumbent ruling political party, she alleged.
Kavitha accused the ED of acting in "extremely shameful" manner and as per a "larger conspiracy orchestrated at the behest of the members of the incumbent ruling party at the Center".
She pointed out a remand application of one of the accused containing the contact details of the petitioner got leaked to the media and the public.
Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, along with a number of accused had already been arrested in the case.
Kavitha had earlier been questioned by the CBI in the case.
It was alleged Kavitha held benami investment in Indospiritis, a liquor firm involved in the scam. ED alleged Arun Ramchandran Pillai represented Kavitha in Indospirits.
The agencies alleged the South lobby, which included Kavitha, bribed AAP government to formulate an excise policy to facilitate the companies to win the bids and to form a cartel and control the retail outlets in Delhi. Kavitha allegedly invested money through her benamis and took back the money from the company later after getting the licenses.
