Excise case: Kavitha urged Reddy to pay AAP, says CBI

NEW DELHI: The CBI has told a special court here that BRS leader K Kavitha had allegedly “threatened” Aurobindo Pharma promoter Sharath Chandra Reddy to pay an amount of Rs 25 crore to the AAP for the five retail zones allotted to his firm under the Delhi government’s excise policy.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Kavitha had told Reddy that in case he does not pay the amount to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital, his business will be harmed in Telangana and Delhi.

Reddy, who was an accused in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, had turned an approver in the case that is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The CBI is yet to file a chargesheet against him.

Seeking the BRS leader’s custodial interrogation, the CBI told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja that it was at the “insistence and assurance” of Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, that Reddy got involved in the liquor business in Delhi.

Kavitha had allegedly assured Reddy that she had contacts in the Delhi government and that she would help him in the liquor business in the national capital under the now-scrapped excise policy.

“Kavitha further told Sharath Chandra Reddy that the payments of upfront money of Rs 25 crore for wholesale business and Rs 5 crore for each retail zone were to be made to the Aam Aadmi Party for getting liquor business and the same was to be paid to her associates, Arun R Pillai and Abhishek Boinpally, who would in turn coordinate with Vijay Nair, who was a representative of Arvind Kejriwal,” the CBI told the court on Friday.

The court has sent her to the CBI’s custody till April 15.

“The investigation has further revealed that in June-July 2021, K Kavitha had compelled Sharath Chandra Reddy to enter into a sale agreement with her for an agricultural land situated at Mahboob Nagar, Telangana, although he was not keen to purchase the said agricultural land and also not aware of the value of the said land,” it has said.

Kavitha “insisted” that Reddy pay Rs 14 crore against the land and “forced” him to enter into the sale agreement through Mahira Ventures Private Limited, one of the Aurobindo Group companies, in July 2021, the CBI has told the court, citing Reddy’s statement and its investigation so far.

Reddy was an accused in money-laundering case linked to the alleged liquor scam in Delhi, has turned an approver in the case