New Delhi: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha walked out of Delhi’s Tihar Jail after five months of arrest in excise policy case following bail from the Supreme Court on Tuesday night. Kavitha hugged her son, husband and brother KTR who were outside the jail to receive her.
Notably, the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave bail to the BRS leader in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. The BRS leader said that she was jailed due to vendetta politics and her party will now bounce back stronger.
“I was jailed because of political vendetta, we will bounce back soon. I want to thank all of you. I became emotional after meeting my son, brother and husband today after almost 5 months. Only politics is responsible for this situation. The country knows that I was put in jail only because of politics, I did not make any mistake I will fight…,” she said while addressing reporters from her open-roof car.
“We are fighters, we will fight it out legally and politically. They have only made the BRS and KCR’s team unbreakable,” she added.
On March 15, 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kavitha in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. She was arrested by the CBI in April in connection with a corruption case linked to the alleged scam.
Granting the bail, the Supreme Court said she should not attempt to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence in both cases, for which the apex court asked her to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10 lakh each.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan noted that Kavitha has been in custody for around five months and the probe against her by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate was complete in these cases.
“The appellant is behind bars for close to five months; the likelihood of trial being completed in the near future is impossible,” the SC bench observed, recording the submissions made by the central probe agencies. “The perusal of the proviso reveals that it permits certain category of accused, including woman, to be released on bail without meeting twin test. It will all depend on the facts and circumstances of each case, but when a stature specially provides such benefit, court will have to give specific reasons to deny it.”
The court added: “We, therefore, find that single judge misdirected in denying the benefit of proviso.”
