Kavitha paid ₹100 cr bribe to AAP: ED

Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate, which has been investigating into the Delhi liquor scam, alleged that K. Kavitha, Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC and daughter of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the scam besides the Aam Admi Party. The other two beneficiaries are ‘Aurobindo’ Sharat Chandra Reddy and YSR Congress MP Magunta Srinivasula Reddy.

The ED, referring to its investigation and the statements recorded by various persons involved in the scam, alleged in its chargesheet that the “South Group” comprising the three persons mentioned above, paid kickbacks of Rs 100 cr to Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP to gain control over the liquor business in the national capital.

In return to the kickbacks, the South Group bagged wholesale trade and several retail zones. According to the ED, Kavitha holds 65 per cent along with the Magunta family through her proxy Arun Pillai in Indospirit, which made at least Rs 195 crore as profit by selling 14 crore bottles in retail. This is in sharp contrast to just Rs 21,000 profit made by another wholesaler Lake Forest which also paid licence fee of Rs 5 crore.

The ED alleged that Vijay Arora, representing the AAP, coerced Pernod Ricord, one of the biggest liquor manufacturers in the country, to make Indospirit as their wholesaler for Delhi. As per the deal reached between the South Group and the AAP, the 12 per cent profit accrued on sales will be shared equally between them.

According to the chargesheet, Kavitha was in constant touch with the other players either by meeting them directly in star hotels in Delhi and at her residence in Hyderabad or through FaceTime calls. The ED already established that she destroyed about dozen mobile phones apparently to erase evidence.

Arun Pillai, who the ED alleged as benami of Kavitha in Indospirit, revealed in his statement that Kavitha and Vijay Nair met in The Oberoi Maidens and discussed about recovering kickbacks paid to AAP. He revealed that he had been representing Kavitha in Indospirit. Sameer Mahendru, another partner in Indospirit, also corroborated with Pillai’s version in his statements.