ED files caveat in SC on K Kavitha's plea challenging summons against her

Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha. File Pic/PTI

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court on the Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha's plea challenging the summons issued by the probe agency against her in connection to Delhi excise policy case. A Caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against them without being heard.

Kavitha, who is the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has approached the Supreme court saying that as per norms, a woman cannot be summoned for questioning before ED in office and her questioning should take place at her residence. On March 15, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Kavitha's plea challenging the summons of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 24.

ED has asked the MLC to appear again before it on March 16, but she did not appear citing that her plea is pending in SC. The court has agreed to hear her petition on March 24 in connection with a money laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy case. The advocate for Kavitha said that a woman is now being summoned by ED for questioning and that it is "completely against the law".

Kavitha's lawyer mentioned the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and sought an urgent hearing on her petitions. The court agreed to list it on March 24. The court asked what was the urgency in the matter, and the lawyer replied that Kavitha has been asked to appear before ED tomorrow.

Also Read: BRS leader K Kavitha moves SC in money laundering case arising out of Delhi excise policy scam

In a petition filed through advocate Vandana Sehgal, Kavitha has urged the top court to quash the ED summons dated March 7 and 11, stating that asking her to appear before the agency office instead of her residence is contrary to the settled tenets of criminal jurisprudence and thus, wholly unsustainable in law being violative of the Proviso to Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973.

She has also sought that all procedures carried out by ED, including those in relation to the recording of statements be audio or videographed in the presence of her lawyer at a visible distance inter-alia by way of installation of appropriate CCTV cameras. She has also sought to set aside impounding order dated March 11, 2023, and declare the seizure made thereunder null and void.

In the petition, she said, "Despite the petitioner, Kavitha not being named in the FIR, certain members of the incumbent ruling political party at the centre made scandalous statements linking the petitioner to the Delhi Excise Policy and the said FIR."

"The political conspiracy against the petitioner (K Kavitha) unfortunately did not end with judicial intervention by way of the Suit. The Enforcement Directorate filed a remand application qua one of the accused on November 30, 2022, before the concerned Court. This remand application contained the personal contact details of the petitioner. There was no rhyme or reason to include the personal contact details of the petitioner in a remand application which did not even concern the petitioner. The act is all the more egregious considering the petitioner is a lady," BRS leader said.

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